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BY N. ADAMS, D.D 






A NEW EDITION, GREATLY ENLARGED. 






BOSTON: 4 
PUBLISHED BY HENRY HOYT, 

NO. 9 CORNHILL. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 

HENRY HOTT, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. 






*? % 

$*Utt (Bftam&Ut g^am*, 

formerly 
Captain 
of Ship 
Golden 
Fleece, 
by whose 
skilful 
naviga- 
tion and 
filial love 
this voy- 
age was 
a source 
of benefit 
and will 
be the oc- 
casion of 
tftf continu- &ath e „ 

*°^ a l grati- ** 

*%\ tudeto- #| 

^ X* God > y J* * 



Pfefkde to tl\e tfitfjft Edition. 

A narrative of this voyage was prepared for the c Con- 
gregationalist ' at the request of the editors, and appeared 
in successive numbers of that paper. On application of the 
present publisher for leave to issue it in a volume, it has 
assumed the form in which it now appears, revised and 
enlarged. The manner in which it originated explains its 
miscellaneous and somewhat desultory character. 



fVefkde to t\o 0edo:q& ^ditioi\. 

So much interest in this narrative has been expressed 
that the author has been led to insert in a new edition 
things which it would have contained in the first, had the 
design been to give more than a brief sketch of the voy- 
age. 



cotftf^tftfg. 



i. 

Outward Bound, 9-80 

II. 
Cape Horn,.. 81-154 

III. 
California— The Sandwich Islands— Hong 

Kong, 155-195 

IY. 

Canton— Shanghai— Singapore— Macao, . . . 196-259 

V. 
Manilla— Homeward Bound, 260-345 



UNDER THE MIZZEN MAST. 



OTJTW~AED BOUND. 



He travels, and I too ; I tread his deck, 
Ascend his topmast ; through his peering eyes 
Discover countries ; with a kindred heart 
Suffer his woes, and share in bis escapes; 
"While Fancy, like the finger of a clock, 
Buns the great circuit, and is still at home. 

COWPEE. 

^rj|Si HERE are so many running to and 
^ '^?1 1 fe fr" ' an( ^ ^ now ledge is thereby so in- 

V wi> creasec ^ that I doubted, at first, if 
my friends did well to ask me to write for 
publication an account of my voyage. But 
I considered that impressions made on every 



10 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

new observer add something to the already 
large information of intelligent readers, be- 
sides reviving agreeable recollections. The 
thought that I may suggest to some friend 
in need of long rest one means of finding 
it, or encourage him to adopt it, leads me 
to give, as requested, the following narra- 
tive. 

The writer, having been ill in the early 
part of 1869, was advised by physicians and 
friends to try the effect of foreign travel ; 
but in what direction it was difficult to de- 
cide. With every suggestion of experienced 
friends there would arise some association 
of fatigue in sight-seeing, of monotony in 
resting long in one place. Pleasant as it 
would be to nestle in some quiet nook in 
Switzerland, or to take up an abode in one 
of the Channel Islands, — Alderney, for ex- 
ample, where there would be much to gratify 
curiosity, and where the distance from the 



"Where to Travel. 11 

centres of information would not be great, — 
the thought of being confined to one place 
or even district of country, or of being 
tempted to visit interesting scenes, and es- 
pecially to make the acquaintance of inter- 
esting men, awakened such anticipations of 
labor as to forbid any hope of restoration 
from that source. 

A son of the writer was compelled in 
youth, by ill-health, to leave his studies and 
go to sea. In the fall of 1869 he received 
command of a commodious ship, the " Gold- 
en Fleece," which sailed in October of that 
year for San Francisco, Hong Kong, and 
Manila. By the kindness of Messrs. Wil- 
liam F. Weld & Co., the writer and two 
members of his family accompanied him as 
passengers. 

Many were the questions to which these 
passengers required answers previous to their 
embarkation on so long a voyage. The gale 



12 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

of September, 1869, which levelled our Bos- 
ton Coliseum, and damaged so many steeples, 
and made such havoc among poplars and 
other trees whose roots run near the surface, 
led to the inquiry, What were the ordinary 
chances of such gales at sea ? This question 
was answered by producing the log-book of 
a recent voyage from Mexico, in which it 
appeared that the weather, day after day, 
was so free from any cause for fear that the 
impression was allowed to gain strength that 
storms were an exception in sea-faring life. 
As to the gale just mentioned, it. seemed 
safer to be at sea at such a time, with sea- 
room, than under roofs and chimneys, or in 
streets. 

October 23, 1869, the ship Golden Fleece 
left Pier No. 12, East River, New York, 
in charge of a tug, and dropped anchor 
in the stream until the next morning. Mem- 
bers of our family circle went with us 



A Good Looking Creu). 13 

till we came to anchor, when they went 
over the side into the tug, where one of 
them took a sketch of us with her pencil, 
completing a sketch already taken of our 
cabin and staterooms for friends at home. 
We finally saw them reach the wharf, when 
we ceased waving our adieus and repaired 
to the cabin to put ourselves in sea trim. 

The sailors were in good condition. The 
Shipping Master who brought them on 
board, had told them that the Golden Fleece 
was a religious ship ; no swearing or fight- 
ing is allowed ; a minister is among the pas- 
sengers; the captain is kind and would 
treat them well. He had collected a good 
set of men ; and when they stood on the 
lower deck and the shipping master called 
their names and checked them on the cap- 
stan, it seemed to me that I had never seen 
so many good faces among so many sailors. 
None came on board intoxicated, but this 



14 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

was not strange seeing it was but the third 
hour of the day. 

We weighed anchor at six o'clock the next 
morning. The pilot had charge and took us 
down to Sandy Hook.* We heard bells on 
shore at Staten Island and supposed that 
they were ringing for church. 

We saw the pilot boat coming, for the 
pilot at noon. It took him from us, and we 
began our voyage. The hills of Neversink 
alone remained to remind us for a short time 
of home and country. Twenty or thirty 
sail started with us, but our good ship took 
the lead and kept it. 

After dinner the two mates gathered the 
men on the main deck to divide them into 
watches. They were unknown to the mates 
by name, but as each chose a man he pointed 
to him. Being divided, they repaired to 
their bunks and changed from one side of 
the forecastle to the other according as they 



The Gulf Stream. 15 

found themselves in either watch. It was 
touching to see them, each with all his 
worldly goods in his arms passing each other 
to their respective berths, 

In two days after leaving New York we 
were in the Gulf Stream. We sailed through 
leagues of herbage which was borne from 
the shores by the Stream, and like us was 
going to sea. The ship rolled ; and soon the 
wind freshened and we were in a gale. We 
had our first sight of " mountain waves," so 
called ; but they needed some imagination 
and a little fear to make them mountainous. 
They were enough however to make us 
uncomfortable. The gale lasted two days. 
We took the impression that such was to be 
the ordinary experience in the voyage, — 
discomfort and tediousness. But we were 
happy to find that it was not so ; for, during 
the whole voyage, there were very few such 
experiences, — so infrequent, indeed, as to 



16 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

excite surprise when they came. The morn- 
ing after the gale the weather was fine. 
Going on deck, we found that we had ex- 
changed the sharp air of the latter part of 
October in New England for the temperature 
of the early part of June. 

Soon we were in the Tropic of Cancer. It 
seemed like a new world. Never before had 
we looked upon such a sky. There was no 
stratification in the clouds, and nothing of 
the cumulus formation ; but the surface of 
the sky was composed of innumerable fleecy 
things moving in the gentlest manner, as 
though they feared to disturb slumber. The 
gentle motion was just the thing to induce 
sleep. As we thought of the turbulent 
state of the elements the day before, the sky 
now looked like an army which had been 
dismissed. It seemed as though there was 
not wind enough to form a large cloud. 
The hammock was made fast, one end of it 



The Hammock. 17 

to an iron belaying-pin in the saddle of the 
mizzen mast, in the shade of the spanker, 
and the other end to the rail. A hammock 
meets you at every point with the needed 
support. It brought strange sensations of 
rest to lie and listen to the plashing of the 
water against the sides of the ship. The 
measured roll of the vessel now was pleasura- 
ble. There was an easy swing to the ham- 
mock, as though a considerate hand were 
keeping it moving. How much better this 
rest and peace than travelling in Switzer- 
land, or being pent up in the Azores, or 
wandering through Italy, if one needs rest 
and at the same time change of place ! To 
an overworked brain here is seclusion indeed. 
There is here no post-office, with its delivery 
three times a day, so welcome on shore ; no 
newspapers ; no door bell ; no agents solicit- 
ing attention to new works, and begging you 
to put your name down and accept a copy, as 



18 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

though you had subscribed ; no succession 
of engagements ; 

"No cares to break the long repose; " 

no crowd of passengers, nor daily calcula- 
tion as to the day of arrival ; nor jar of 
machinery, as in a steamboat, making you 
feel, day and night, that somebody is labo- 
riously at work ; and, to crown all, seemingly 
no end to your vacation. 

But those clouds in the tropics ! You had 
thought, perhaps, heretofore, that only at 
night the heavens declare the glory of God. 
Perhaps you find that the book which you 
brought on deck to read, but which you have 
no desire to open, may have in it a fly-leaf, 
on which, as you lie in the hammock, with 
one knee raised for a writing-table, you may 
indite these dreamy lines : — 



The Clouds in the Tropics. 19 

THE CLOUDS IN THE TROPICS. 

Did we not think o'er ocean's restless plain 

To see embattled hosts, and feel the affray ? 

But lo ! a truce is here, and gala-day ; 

Nor lines of march, nor rank and file remain. 

The fleecy clouds move o'er the tranquil plain, 

And fling their trade -wind signals to the breeze, 

To Capricorn from Cancer, realm of peace ! 

They seek no martial order to regain, 

But take some fancied likeness, one by one, 

Or shape themselves in wizard groups of things ; 

No haste, nor deep designs, no jostling crowds. 

The hosts are going home, their service done. 

What sense of power the wide-spread quiet brings ! 

In calms or storms " His strength is in the clouds." 

The meteorology in the latter part of the 
Book of Job stood in no need of modern 
science to captivate the hearts of the wor- 
shippers of the true God. " Dost thou know 
the balancing of the clouds,, the wondrous 
works of Him which is perfect in knowl- 
edge ? " 

The charm of sea-life in a sailing-vessel I 



20 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

found to be constant occupation of the mind 
without wearying it. At first it seemed a 
duty to read the periodicals which we 
brought with us, the new books reserved for 
the voyage, the choice articles in the quarter- 
lies which had been commended to us. But 
for these we found no time. What charm 
could there be in Dante when a school of 
porpoises was in sight, each of them -leaping 
out of water just for the pleasure of the 
dive back ? If the mate called down the 
companion-way, " A sail on the lee-bow ! " 
the paper-folder must keep the place in the 
uncut volume till you know all about her. 
It would be tedious waiting at a corner of a 
street ten minutes for a horse-car ; but it was 
pleasant to wait an hour and forty minutes 
to come up with the stranger ahead, gaining 
upon her all the time, meanwhile watching 
the flying-fish which the ship started on the 
wing, or going forward into the bows and 



Meeting Vessels. 21 

looking over to see the ship dash through the 
waves, with " a bone in her mouth," till 
suddenly the main topgallant-sail splits, and 
so fulfills the expectation expressed for the 
last five days that it could not long sur- 
vive ; and now, as it is the change of watch, 
and all hands are on deck, what could be 
more interesting than to see twenty-eight of 
them take in the old sail and bend the new 
one, then line the side of the ship with their 
curious faces to inspect the bark which we 
have now overtaken. She is the " Doon of 
Ayr," one hundred and six days from Japan 
for New York, and as she was tacking we 
came so near that one might throw a biscuit 
on board. The captains of the bark and the 
ship had time for a few words of inquiry and 
information ; then the two wanderers on the 
deep parted company, and watched each 
other for half an hour, and sighted each 
other, no doubt, occasionally, for an hour 



22 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

and a half, till each became to the other a 
speck. You have long ago forgotten your 
book, your journal, and magazine. This 
event, and its many interludes, are more 
interesting to you than a battle in Lord 
Derby's Homer ; it is practical life ; you begin 
to feel that everything which you enjoy 
will be without the intrusion of periodical 
engagements, and you feel surprised that 
no such engagements now demand your 
thoughts. 

Among the incidents at sea which give a 
charm to life, one is, Speaking a vessel. 
This is a metaphorical expression, retained 
from the former days before signals were 
used in conversation, and when' vessels had 
to come near enough to each other for the 
speaking to act its part. We had been out 
five or six days, when a sail was descried on 
the starboard bow. It proved to be a bark ; 
and we were as giad to see her as though 



Speaking a Vessel. 23 

we had met an old friend in a foreign land. 
The bark soon hoisted her ensign, which was 
the same as raising your hat in passing. We 
hoisted ours, which was a signal of recogni- 
tion. The bark ran up four flags, which we 
recognized by the spyglass as 6 9 5 7, show- 
ing her number in the book to be 6957. 
Turning to it, we read " Sachem." We ran 
up 4 5 9 1, our number in the book. The 
bark displayed 5 6 2 8, which we found to 
be "Salem." We showed 4 7 8 2, — "New 
York." The bark gave 6 8 7 4, — " Zanzi- 
bar." We returned 2 18 0, — " Califor- 
nia." The bark showed 6, — " six days 
out." We did the same. The bark showed 
numeral pendant, — this meaning " longi- 
tude," and with it 54 38. We replied 
with 54 30, — our calculation. The bark 
then dipped her ensign, hauling it down half 
way, then raising it again. This was done 
three times. We did the same, which was 



24 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

equivalent to "good-bye " on either side, and 
lifting the hat ; we added 6 3 8 9, meaning, 
64 Wish you- a pleasant voyage." The an- 
swer was, 5 7 8 3," Many thanks." 

These courtesies at sea are pleasant. 
Coming up with the vessel, or she and you 
drawing near in passing, reading the num- 
bers by the spyglass, and arranging all the 
signals, is an agreeable occupation for the 
larger part of two hours, including the de- 
parture of the vessels from each other, as 
though friends were parting, leaving the 
ocean more a solitude than before. 

Meeting vessels, or passing them at a dis- 
tance, exchanging signals, making out their 
numbers, bring remote parts of the earth 
suddenly to mind. Thus new trains of 
thought succeed each other entirely discon- 
nected. I always enjoyed exercise on horse- 
back for one principal reason, — that on 
horseback you cannot long pursue one train 



No Monotony. 25 

of thought. Your conjunctions are disjunc- 
tive. If you purpose to make out your 
evening lecture on horseback, your attention 
is so frequently taken by something in the 
road, or by the action of the horse, that you 
probably come home without any connected 
plan. So at sea. The occasional sight of a 
sail is an illustration of the charm of sea- 
life as having complete possession of your 
thoughts without leaving you long at liberty 
to pore over a subject. If you meet a Nor- 
wegian bark, and the captain tells you he is 
twenty-four days from Buenos Ayres, there 
is Norway and Buenos Ayres for your medi- 
tation, and perhaps for your statistical or 
geographical inquiry. If the "Queen of the 
Pacific," eighty -seven days from Macao for 
London, comes in sight, there is another 
chapter in the world's great miscellany. 
That sail yonder proves to be the " Hunga- 
rian," from Saguenay, twenty-one days out, 
bound to Melbourne, with lumber. You 



26 Under the Mizzen 31ast; 

have another illustration of commerce bind- 
ing together the ends of the earth. You 
soon excuse those friends of yours at home 
who commiserated you on the prospect of a 
long, monotonous sea-voyage. Where is the 
monotony ? Not in the ship's clock, which 
enumerates every hour and half-hour by a 
system of horology altogether different from 
shore time-pieces ; not in the boatswain's 
64 Pumpship " at evening, when twelve or 
fifteen men entertain you with a song. 
Every tune at the pumps must have a 
chorus. The sentiment in the song is the 
least important feature of it ; the celebra- 
tion of some portion of the earth or seas, 
other than here and now : "I wish I was in 
Mobile Bay," "I'm bound for the Rio 
Grande," with the astounding chorus from 
twenty-eight men, part of whom the fine 
moonlight and the song tempt from their 
bunks, is an antidote to monotony. 

The sailors were a merry set. Though 



Sailors' Songs. 27 

only half of the crew — that is, one watch — 
were required each night at the pumps, all 
hands at first generally turned out because it 
was the time for a song. It was a nightly 
pleasure to be on the poop deck when the 
pumps were manned, and to hear twenty 
men sing. When making sail after a gale, 
the crew are ready for the loudest singing, 
unless it be at the pumps. For example, 
when hauling on the topsail halyards, they 
may have this song, the shanty man, as they 
call him, solo singer, beginning with a wail- 



ing strain : 



Solo: poor Reuben Rauzo! (twice) 

Chorus : Ranzo, boys, Ranzo ! 
Solo : Ranzo was no sailor ! " 

Chorus : Ranzo, boys, Ranzo ! 
Solo : He shipped on board a whaler! " 

Clwrus: Ranzo, boys, Ranzo! 
Solo : The captain was a bad man ! 

Clwrus : Ranzo, boys, Ranzo ! 
Sob : He put him in the rigging ! 

Chorus : Ranzo, boys, ranzo ! ' 
Solo: He gave him six-and-thirty — 



28 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

by which time the topsail is mast-headed, 
and the mate cries, "Belay ! " 

When the mainsail is to be set, and they 
are hauling down the main tack, this, per- 
haps, is the song : — 

Solo: '"Way! haulaway! haulaway! uiy ro-sey; 
Chorus: 'Way ! haul away ! haul away ! Joe ! " 

the long pull, the strong pull, the pull alto- 
gether being given at the word " Joe ; " then 
no more pulling till the same word recurs. 

When hauling on the main sheet, this is 
often the song, sung responsively : 

Shanty man: " Haul the bowline ; Kitty is iny darling. 
Crew : Haul the bowline, the bowline haul! " 

That no one may think of me above that 
which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth 
of me, let me say that I find, on inquiry, 
that the " main tack " is the line which hauls 
down that corner of the main sail which is 
toward the wind ; called, therefore, the 
" weather clew." The " main sheet " hauls 



Nautical Terms. 29 

the other corner of the main sail ; called, 
therefore, " the lee clew." Why a rope 
should be called a sheet is a piece of nauti- 
cal metonymy which it would be difficult to 
explain. " Larboard " and " starboard " 
were formerly used to designate respectively 
the left and the right side of the ship, stand- 
ing aft and looking forward; but the two 
words, so much alike, were not always 
readily apprehended, and so were changed 
to " port and starboard." Why the word 
"port" is used, does not appear; nor can any 
one tell why " Reuben Ranzo " is associated 
with one of the long pulls ; if there be any 
philosophy in it, or historic association, it is 
as deep as the sea, or hopelessly lost. 

After singing at the pumps in good 
weather when there was not much work, 
the men would have some amusement. 
Sometimes it was " Hunt the Slipper." 
Then, again, two men sat down opposite 



30 Tinder the Mizzen Mast; 

each other, their hands and feet tied, and a 
capstan bar was run through each of the two 
men's arms, behind him. The two would 
push each other with their feet till one 
would lose his balance, and fall over ; then, 
being helpless, he was at the mercy of his 
comrade's feet till he begged for quarter. 
These games were interspersed with declama- 
tions. We had some of Macauley's "Lays 
of Ancient Rome," " Spartacus," " My name 
is Norval." The merry laugh and the clap- 
ping of hands at the declaimers, and, now 
and then, the youthful voice of a boy re- 
citing his piece from Henry Clay, or a story 
from the " Reader," beguiled many an even- 
ing in the tropics. 

On crossing the line, one evening when 
we were on the poop deck, we were startled 
by a voice on the lower deck, " What ship's 
that ? " The captain replied. The voice 
answered, " I shall call upon you to-morrow ; 



Neptune on Board. 31 

I have an engagement this evening." At 3, 
P.M., the next day, being Saturday, we were 
summoned on deck by one of the sailors, 
who announced that Neptune was coming 
on board. All at once we saw a grotesque 
figure swinging in the air over the water, 
half-way up to the main yard, two of the 
sailors pulling him in. He came on board, 
wet from his waist ; and there came also over 
the sides a female figure and a young man. 
They came to the front cabin door, and 
saluted the captain, who stood ready to re- 
ceive them. Neptune had on spectacles 
made of a tin can, epaulets of the same, 
buskins made of duck, long hair of rope- 
yarns, a duck tunic, and a girdle of twisted 
ropes. Mrs. Neptune had on a long duck 
mantle, her face blackened with burnt cork, 
and a large fan made of wood, and covered 
with sail-cloth ; she used it gracefully. The 
son bore his father's trident, which was a 



82 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

four pronged iron, called " the grains," used 
for spearing sharks. He, also, was fantasti- 
cally dressed. They made obeisance to the 
captain, who welcomed them on board in a 
short speech. They then repaired to a booth 
fitted up as a sort of marquee, flung up the 
sides, and called a young man from the crew. 
They asked him if he ever crossed the line 
before ; then set him in a barrel, with his 
feet out, inquired his name, where from and 
whither bound, and as he opened his mouth 
to answer, they inserted the paint brush filled 
with soap and lime, with which the son was 
lathering him, who then produced an old 
saw fixed in a piece of wood for a sheath 
and handle and shaved him. Neptune then 
ordered him to be washed ; when four men 
took him and dipped him into a barrel of 
water. This they did to three young men. 
They then came up to our deck and saluted 
us. The captain informed them that we 



Hazing. 33 

were all liege subjects of Neptune and 
needed not to be sworn. They then wished 
us a pleasant voyage, — Mrs. 1ST. taking her 
husband's arm, fanning herself gracefully, — - 
and they withdrew. While it was a success- 
ful masquerade, well sustained in all the 
parts, — the boys consenting to be hazed 
conscious that they were contributing some- 
thing to the dramatic poetry of sea-life, — it 
was easy to see that it was capable of abuse, 
The officers saw that they should be care- 
ful how they allowed this liberty. To an 
invalid at sea these things are medicine ; and, 
as I am writing in the interest of some who 
may betake themselves for the first time to 
sea in a sailing-ship for health, I would say 
that they must wait till they are in circum- 
stances to find how " dulce est desipere in 
loco," how pleasant it is at sea to be even 
gamesome upon occasions. 

One day as I lay in the hammock I found 



34 Under the..Mizzen Blast; 

myself in a revery ; my eye being fixed on a 
bright, new rope which appeared among the 
running risfgdnff. I mention it as an illus- 
tration of the frames of mind which steal 
upon an invalid passenger, especially in a 
sailing-ship, because undisturbed there by a 
crowd, or by the noise of steam and its 
machinery. Would any one think that a 
single halyard among five or six others could 
bring to mind Burke's treatise on the " Sub- 
blime and Beautiful " ? But it was even so. 
I found my eye going up the new rope in 
admiration at the perfect regularity in the 
twist of the strands. An artist cannot 
always combine the hempen yarns with the 
exactness which the ropemaker's wheel gives 
them. My eye went from the new rope to 
the old ones ; all had the same perfect twist 
throughout the ship. The ropes, from be- 
laying-pin to truck, the signal halyard and 
the hawser, seemed instinct with " the 



Sea Musings, 35 

beauty of fitness," to borrow a term from 
the above-mentioned writer, — a common 
window-sash, with its parallelograms of 
panes, serving that great genius for an illus- 
tration. 

" Thus pleasure is spread through the earth 
In stray gifts, to be claimed by whoever shall find. 
Thus a rich loving-kindness, redundantly kind, 
Moves all nature to gladness and mirth." 

I cannot forget the simple pleasure which 
this meditation on a rope gave me, carrying 
me back to youthful days in my native place, 
and to the ropewalks there, the swift spin- 
dles, the horse in the cellar turning the 
wheel, the spinners, each with a bunch* of 
hemp around him hitching it to the spindle, 
then walking backwards, paying out the 
hemp through his hands with judicious care, 
the rope all the time growing lengthwise, 
down the walk. It used to be a wonder to 
me how the horse in the cellar, going about 
on the tan, could twist the twine at the end 



86 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

of the bridge as accurately as it was twisted 
at the spindle. Unconscious influence, re- 
mote causations, continents, oceans^ years, 
intervening between the agent and the effect 
of his example and words, were illustrated 
by the horse in the ropewalk ; and the revery 
would have been protracted, had not a vessel 
ahead caught my eye. Coming to my senses 
I thought of Dean Swift's satire on Robert 
Boyle's pious and sentimental writings, 
which the Dean had to read in the hearing 
of Lady Berkeley, whose simplicity and en- 
thusiasm he was pleased to ridicule, in re- 
venge for the task imposed on him, under the 
guise of mimicking Mr. Bo}de, in the famous 
piece, " Meditations on a Broomstick." 

But few things have so pleasing an effect 
in solving the kinks in one's brain as to lie 
in a hammock on deck at sea far away from 
care, and let the fancy like the poet's river 
" wander at its own sweet will." This wan- 



Meeting a Whaler. 37 

dering would have continued, had I not been 
startled by descrying as aforesaid a vessel 
ahead, hove to, directly across our course, 
under short sail, her jib-boom gone, all look- 
ing as if she was in distress and trying to 
intercept us for relief. We began to con- 
sider how many we could accommodate in 
case she proved to be in a sinking condition ; 
how our provisions would hold out ; and 
other prudential questionings ; which were 
soon dissipated by finding that she was a 
whaler with a whale alongside, a man stand- 
ing on him cutting in, and the rest of the 
crew, some of them, hoisting up the pieces, 
and others trying them out. This episode in 
practical life contrasted well with the revery 
with which the forenoon begun, making with 
it a good illustration of the variety in sea-life. 
It had rained in torrents one night, and it 
kept on till nine o'clock the next day. The 
sailors stopped the lee scuppers, and soon the 



38 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

deck had several inches of water on the lee 
side. The ducks were released and thought 
their paradise regained. The sailors could 
not resist the opportunity to do a little wash- 
ing ; so flannel shirts and other articles of 
apparel came forth into the common tub, the 
main deck ; being trampled on by bare feet 
instead of the more laborious process of the 
washing-board. The sturdy limbs bared up 
to the knees showed fine sets of muscles, 
enough to excite the admiration of an artist 
pursuing anatomical studies. After the 
sailors had finished, they turned their atten- 
tion to the pigs, which were severally walked 
into the water on two legs by the men, when 
they were chased and knocked about and 
scrubbed, till, by their looks, they made you 
believe the saying of the market-men that 
ship-fed pork has no superior. There was 
no monotony here. 

But there was monotony soon in the dol- 



The Doldrums. 39 

drums. These are a region near the equator, 
between the north-east and south-east trades, 
where calms and rains abound, puffs of wind 
varying in direction every half-hour, trying 
to the sailors, disappointing the captain's 
hopes. He yearns for steam ; even an old 
captain will resolve, for the hundredth time 
in his life, that he will never go to sea 
again ; he jumps on his hat and whistles for 
the wind. Then a breeze springs up, and he 
rubs his hands, and thinks that, after all, his 
ship is better than a steamer, till, in half an 
hour, she is almost motionless. 

Then is the time for the sharks to appear. 
They are slow creatures and cannot keep up 
with a good sailer ; so in calms they come 
and lie alongside. The little pilot-fishes, the 
curious attendants of the shark, directing his 
attention to food, are with him. The grains 
are thrust at the shark ; and, if they fasten 
in him, a bend of a rope around his tail 



40 Under the Hkzen 3Iast ; 

brings him on board. Sailors have great 
spite against sharks ; they may show tender- 
ness to other creatures, but for sharks they 
have no mercy. They will use their sheath- 
knives about his nose, and disfigure him in 
all conceivable ways. Their theory is that a 
shark never dies till sunset. Sharks are 
hard to kill. You may cut off their heads 
and tails, and disembowel them, and even 
then the trunk will thrash the deck at so 
lively a rate that his executioners will have 
need to jump about for safety. In contrast 
with the shark, the dolphin seemed to me for 
beauty to verify all that poets have said of 
him. It is my belief that a dolphin's mouth 
is as perfect a curve as nature ever produces. 
His tints, when dying, are no fiction. Two 
sword-fish were caught one day, and the 
rapidity with which they were stripped of 
their flesh, and their back-bones hung up to 
dry, rivalled the skill and speed of young 
surgical practitioners. 



Autobiography of the Mizzen Mast. 41 

THE MIZZEN MAST. A DREAM. 

Few if any need to be informed that the 
niizzen niast is the hindmost of the three 
masts of a ship. The mizzen mast of the 
Golden Fleece is a solid stick, but the fore- 
mast and mainmast are built. In this sec- 
tion of the country it is not always easy to 
find trees large, tall, straight enough for the 
foremast and mainmast of a large ship. A 
smaller one will answer for a mizzen mast. 
The foremast and mainmast are specimens 
of ingenious mechanical work, eight or nine 
pieces in each of them making a circum- 
ference of sixty-two inches. Iron bands gird 
these heavy staves, which are grooved and 
jointed together. There are five hoops of 
broad iron, five feet" apart. The mainmast 
being in the centre of the ship is continually 
scraped, oiled, and varnished. The iron* 
hoops . are painted vermilion, which sets off 
the color of the spruce wood. It is pleasant 



42 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

to look on the manufactured masts- which 
show what human skill can do ; for example, 
a mainmast that can support those immense 
yards which when lowered to ■ the deck you 
can scarcely believe are each of them itself 
less than a mast, for it supports a huge 
weight of canvas stretched upon it. 

The mainmast holds up a top mast also 
with its yards and sails, a top-gallant mast 
with yards and sails, the royal, and some- 
times a sky sail. Then the foremast also, 
which bears the same burden and is also a 
manufactured thing ; as you think of it, a 
hundred feet ahead of you, pioneering your 
way and taking the first brunt of the sea, you 
cannot help regarding it as the most heroic of 
the three masts. Inspiring as the sight of 
these always is, I cannot withhold from the 
mizzen mast peculiar attachment. As already 
stated, one end of the hammock is fastened to 
it, the other end to the rail ; on one side or the 



Autobiography of the Mizzen Mast. 43 

other there is almost always a shade from the 
spanker, a principal fore and aft sail which 
swings from it. 

Lying here about Thanksgiving time I was 
musing on the mizzen mast, when I fell 
asleep, but my musing continued. The 
mizzen mast, once a live tree, seemed now 
to be a living person ; it appeared to be 
soliloquizing, though now and then it seemed 
to be addressing an audience, and again it 
was whispering to me. I fancied it saying 
thus : — 

" I was once a shoot which a fox could 
tread down ; then a sapling. I grew on 
the side of a hill in the Aroostook region. 
The Indian names of my native lakes and 
rivers have been for so long a time disused 
that I cannot now distinguish between the 
Chern-quas-a-ban-to-cook, the Ah-mo-gen- 
ga-mook and " the far-winding Skoo-doo- 
wab-skook-sis." Once* these names were 



44 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

familiar to me. Now I wander with you who 
sail with us in the wilderness of ocean. You 
sympathize with me, perhaps, in my exile 
from the stillness of nature. You are tempted 
to fancy me contrasting my rough life with 
the silence in which I grew. Years passed 
over me and my kindred in the untrodden 
forest ; what ornithology I might describe ; 
what songs I might recite ; tell what eagles 
visited my top ; what rare plumage is remem- 
bered as having showed itself in my foliage. 
Squirrels gambolled on my limbs, wood- 
peckers ransacked my sides for their prey. 
Many a woodbine has climbed into me, lived 
it's short life, and turned crimson under the 
first touch of frost. 

One day men came beneath me with axes, 
measured my girth, looked up to my top. 
Great was my fall. I lay on the ground, 
my top was brought to a level with my root. 
I became a mere trunk, was borne to the 



Autobiography of the Mizzeii Mast. 45 

shipyard, my foot set in the hold of this 
ship then new, and soon I was made ready 
for. my vesture of canvas in place of buds 
and blossoms ; I began a new life among the 
winds on the seas. Now I am sailing about 
the world ; I have been many times round 
Cape Horn, am familiar with the lightnings 
off the River Plate, have compared the gales 
around the Cape of Good Hope with those 
of the Horn ; know the latitudes where the 
trade winds begin and where they cease. I 
am a favorite resort of passengers in a sailing 
ship. I stand aloof from the main deck 
where work is all the time going on and 
there is much passing to and fro. The 
house," (here it seemed to be addressing an 
audience) " which is the raised covering of 
the cabin, is there, extending perhaps one 
third the whole length of the ship, affording 
on its top a place for promenading. From 
me swings the spanker, a large fore and aft 



46 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

sail, helping the wind to balance the ship 
and much of the time throwing a shade ; 
and there is almost alwaj 7 s a current of air 
stirring beneath it. Under me and in the 
spanker's shade the passengers spend a large 
part of every pleasant day reading, writing, 
conversing, enjoying the ocean scenes. Eve- 
ry pleasant evening is sure to gather them 
under me. My length runs down through 
the forward cabin where I am cased in. 
There the preacher or reader stands, with a 
congregation of about thirty. I am there- 
fore a witness of a large part of a passenger's 
experience at sea. His impressions and re- 
flections, his reading, his writing, his conver- 
sation, his journal, may properly be dated 
under me. 

It might be supposed " (here it seemed to 
relapse into soliloquy,) " that the shipbuilder 
had ideality playing about him when he 
placed me, a tree of the wood, in the most in- 



Autobiography of the Mizzen Blast. 47 

teresting position, to be a centre of social 
life, a shelter to meditative hours, identify- 
ing myself with the choicest moments of sea 
life, retaining a magnetism which memory is 
destined to feel in coming years. Such is 
my origin and early history, and such the 
associations, in memory, with the mast under 
which most of the impressions to be re- 
corded here, no doubt, by one of our passen- 
gers will be received. If his readers (should 
he have any) shall be so happy as to find 
themselves under a mizzen mast at sea, let it 
shed the healing, healthful influence on them 
which seem to be descending on the sleeper 
under my shade." 

This last remark, seeming to be such a 
personal allusion to myself, had the effect to 
startle me, and I roused myself, surprised at 
having been asleep, and I looked up to the 
mizzen mast to see who was speaking. It 
was the mate who that moment was saying, 



48 Under the Mizzen Mast) 

" Set the erojick ; " * whereupon four sailors 
came to the belaying-pins where toy hammock 
swung and began to loosen the buntlines. I 
went below to prepare myself for the Thanks- 
giving dinner, 

THANKSGIVING. 

We kept Thanksgiving, it having been 
appointed before we sailed, so that we knew 
the day. We dined at four, instead of our 
usual hour (half past twelve), and so we 
were at table part of the time with those at 
home. Our dinner was : — 1. Oyster soup ; 
2. Boiled salmon and scalloped oysters ; 3. 
Roast fowl ; 4. Huckleberry pudding ; 5. 
Apple pies of dried apple. Now, should any 
one envy us, or should his mouth water at 
such a bill of fare, let him know that oysters 



*Crqjich, alias crossjack; a large square sail which hangs from 
the mizzen mast. When the wind is aft the erojick " robs " the 
main sail and therefore is not in constant use; while in some 
ships it is rejected. 



Saturday's Dinner. 49 

and salmon from tin cans are not the same 
as those fresh from Faneuil-Hall Market. 

SATURDAY DINNER. 

We may be said to have had a Thanks- 
giving dinner once a week. But the princi- 
pal dish was not fowl. Far from it. It was 
salt fish ; but probably no better meal from 
this article of food is ever served on shore . 
With every desirable vegetable, and some 
sparkling champagne cider which a thought- 
ful friend had placed among our stores, we 
were rivals with Ruth when she sat beside 
the reapers of Boaz in the harvest field, and 
he reached her the parched corn " and she 
did eat and* was sufficed and left." For 
dessert we had at that meal " roly-poly," 
which is thin flour paste spread with apple 
sauce, then rolled together and boiled ; this 
with sweet sauce flavored with vanilla made 
us for the time imagine ourselves on shore. 



50 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

We entertained each other at these feasts 
with the choicest anecdotes, which our re- 
pasts disposed us to call to mind and to 
relish ; for example, instances of Mr. Choate's 
ingenuity, as, when defending a sea captain 
charged with cruelty to his crew, he under- 
took to show that so far from being cruel he 
was eminently considerate, so much so that 
instead of searching the law books to find 
out, as the witnesses alleged, what punish- 
ments were allowable and could be inflicted 
with impunity, he was only guarding him- 
self against the excessive use of legitimate 
discipline ; " he read the books with paternal 
yearnings ; he was a mild but firm parent ; " 
and instead of keeping his £rew on vile 
trash, tasteless, sometime loathsome, " think, 
gentlemen of the jury, of applying such 
words to the nutritious lob scouse and the 
succulent dandy funk ! " How could the 
jury help saying as they presently did, Not 
guilty ? 



Lob Scouse and Dandy Funk. 51 
sailor's fare. 

Perhaps the reader, if he be not already 
versed in the articles of luxurious food 
served to sailors, will be willing to have his 
curiosity gratified as he reads what are the 
component parts of lob scouse and dandy 
funk, the mention of which by the eloquent 
advocate helped him to clear his client, the 
captain. 

" Lob scouse " is salt meat and potatoes 
cut small and stewed. 

" Dandy funk " is hard bread broken up, 
soaked in water, mixed with molasses, and 
baked in pans. Why Mr. Choate should 
call it " succulent," or lob scouse " nutri- 
tious," it requires legal cunning to detect. 

" Sea Pie " is lob scouse with dumplings 
in it, the meat not cut so fine ; perhaps fresh 
meat. When a pig is killed the sailors the 
next Sunday generally have sea pie for din- 
ner, made with fresh pork. 



52 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

" Bread Hash " is hard bread and salt meat 
minced fine and baked. 

" Potato Hash " is potatoes and meat 
minced fine and baked. 

" Manavellings " are remnants from the 
cabin table, the boy's treat. 

APPLES AT SEA. 

We mourned the disappearance of our 
apples. They began to decay three weeks 
after we left New York, and our steward was 
obliged to employ his ingenuity in finding 
ways to use them up. We thought with 
pleasure of the tropical fruits which we 
hoped one day to taste ; but nothing, we felt 
sure, could take the place of a northern 
apple. We expected to miss it as much as 
Sydney Smith did . his summer beverage, in 
a place which he lugubriously describes as 
being situated " five miles from a lemon." 



Accident to the hash. 53 

CAPEICES OF THE SEA. 

The steward was passing from the galley 
to the cabin table with a plate of hash. A 
sudden lurch made him lose his balance. 
His arms went into the air and the hash left 
the plate and went in a body against the side 
of the ship where a coil of rope hung ; and 
it remained fast, the coil forming an oval 
frame for it. We pitied the steward but 
did not weep for the hash. Some of us 
thought we could understand the action of a 
company of boys at a boarding school, who 
were asked in Lent what luxury they would 
each propose to forego during the season of 
fasting and humiliation as a religious offer- 
ing. Slips of paper were given to them and 
in a little while were collected. Every one 
of the forty papers bore the word, Hash. 
Some of our company were so lost to a sense 
of propriety as to exult at the steward's 
mishap. 



54 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

RELIGIOUS ADMONITION FROM THE STEWARDESS. 

We have a stewardess, Annie Cardozo, 
wife of the steward who is a Cape de Verd, 
Portuguese, man. She is an Irish woman, very 
talkative, of good disposition. She was fix- 
ing my mattress ; I remarked that it was too 
low on the side next the room. " Well," 
said she, pleasantly, " we must think of the 
Lord, he had no where to lie down." She 
may have thought that I was querulous, 
which in the present instance was not the 
case; but I accepted the admonition. 

DECISION IN A CAPTAIN. 

One evening in the Gulf Stream just at 
dark the top-gallant sail was blowing adrift 
from the " gaskets," (the ropes with which 
it was furled ; ) and the whole sail was likely 
to get loose. The captain said that it must 
be secured. The mate doubted if it was safe 
to send men aloft in such a gale. The cap- 



Decision in a Captain. 55 

tain replied that tie had been obliged when 
he was before the mast to go aloft in worse 
weather. He could not spare the sail. The 
mate gave the order: " Go aloft, some of you, 
and make fast that top-gallant sail." Six or 
eight men sprang into the rigging and soon 
the sail was furled. 

The captain's eye is necessarily the most of 
the time all over the ship. We were sitting 
on deck when the ship was laboring- in a 
cross sea. He noticed that the main topmast 
stays quivered. The stays had within a few 
days all been "set up " for Cape weather, 
but these were not so taut as they should be. 
It was only a wakeful eye which would have 
noticed it. The remedy was applied at once. 
It is interesting to me as a father to hear the 
young captain spoken of by the sailors to 
each other as " the old man." Had he a 
wife, though she were only eighteen years 
of age she would nevertheless be called " the 
old woman." This made it less offensive 



56 Under the Mizzen Mast', 

to hear myself, though decidedly far from 
seventy, spoken of as " the old gentleman." 

THE NIGHT WATCH. 

At nisrht, or from eight P. M. the two 
mates take turns to be four hours each on 
deck, with or near the man at the wheel. 
They direct the steering according to the 
captain's orders, oversee the ship, and report 
to the captain several times during the night 
as to wind and weather. Two of the crew 
keep a lookout in the bows two hours at a 
time watching against collisions and in some 
latitudes against ice. The law of the road, 
" When you meet turn to the right, *' is the 
law at sea. The chances of collision are 
few. You wonder that you so unfrequently 
meet a sail, especially remembering the long 
list in every paper of arrivals, departures, 
vessels spoken. In thick weather, especially 
while on a coast, the danger increases and a 
sharp lookout is the rule, 



Flying Fish 57 

FLYING FISH 

I have seen at least a thousand in the 
last few weeks. They resemble the smelt, 
though larger. They start up before or near 
the ship in small flocks and fly fifty or a hun- 
dred feet. By taking wing though for short 
distances they are able to elude the dolphin, 
the swiftest of their pursuers, who wonder- 
ing what has become of them, darts on 
ahead. Their escape by flying is probably as 
incredible to the dolphin as the sailors tell us 
it was to the mother of a sailor who was 
questioning him as to his experiences at 
sea. He told her many wonderful things, as, 
that a wheel of one of Pharoah's chariots 
came up on his anchor ; that he saw a 
whale caught, in whose stomach was found 
a handkerchief with a Hebrew word on it 
which a minister on shore declared to be 
Jonah ; that there are now fishes in the sea 
of Tiberias which have in their gills fluted 



58 Under the Mizzen Mast $ 

pieces of pearl resembling money, by which 
name they are now called, and that some 
give them the name of u Peter's pence," sup- 
posing the fishes to be descendants of the 
fish which Peter drew from the sea. But 
when he described fishes flying in the air, 
taking wing before his ship, the faith of the 
listener gave way ; the other stories, she said 
might be true, for they had a foundation in 
holy writ ; but flying fish were too great a tax 
on her belief. — One was washed on board, 
whose wings, extended and dried, had a gossa- 
mer appearance so delicate that one might 
readily believe them to be the wings of some- 
thing more delicate than a fish. 

LOSING- ONE'S SHADOW. 

For about a week we have been directly 
under the sun. When we came under lat. 
21° S. we could see nothing of our shadows 
at noon. Had we been ignorant of the cause 
we might have been in a frame of mind pre- 



Clouds of Magellan. 59 

disposing us to listen to German stories of a 
man's selling his shadow to the evil one: for 
what had become of ours ? Had we been 
of those 4 whose souls proud science never 
taught to strajr far as the solar walk or milky 
wa} r ,' we imagined what our speculations on 
this phenomenon would have been. One's 
shadow certainly can never be less than in 
21° S. Under our feet there was to each 
of us something like one of the clouds of 
Magellan. 

THE CLOUDS OF MAGELLAN. 

These we saw in the evening in the south- 
east, half way up to the zenith. They are 
two dark spots, one larger than the other, 
about twenty paces apart, not far from 
two yards broad. No stars appear in them. 
The telescope shows them to be openings 
into a milky way or paths of star dust, 
groups of heavenly bodies so many and so 



60 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

distant that their light is confused. Hence 
these openings in the bright heavens have the 
appearance of clouds, though they are not 
clouds ; but the light which is in them is 
darkness, its excess confusing the irradiation. 

SALT WATER BATHS. 

You can have sea water brought to your 
room for sponge baths, or there is easy access 
to a room in the ship fitted up with all the 
conveniences for bathing. The men pour 
water through a hole on deck into a reservoir 
over head ; pure sea water ; the quantity 
making you remember the saying of Horace, 
4 Dulce est detrahere acervo', — It is pleasant 
to draw from a heap. In the Gulf Stream 
the water would suit those who must dip 
their razors into warm water. All who wish 
for cold baths will have them as they get 
further North. You have a sense of affluence 
in drawing on the Atlantic for your morning 
bath. 



Birds at Sea. 61 

SEA BIKDS. 

It is interesting to meet birds hundreds of 
miles from land. When the ship is going at 
her greatest speed, twelve or thirteen miles 
an hour, these birds fly faster, some of them 
forty and fifty miles, making you feel how 
they surpass man in all his means of speed. 
One is astonished at their quickness of sight. 
You throw pieces of paper, for example, 
overboard, and though you have not been 
able for half an hour to see a bird, straight- 
way they will come one by one around you, 
but you cannot tell whence. Their sharp- 
ness of sight also is marvellous, shown in 
their discovering fishes beneath the surface 
of the water, even when the sea is troubled. 

SOME OF THE CKEW ALWAYS AT WORK. 

A ship's work is never done. All the time 
something is giving way and must be re- 



62 Under the llizzen Mast; 

paired ; the sails are to be patched, ropes re- 
placed, and day and night orders issue for 
taking in or making sail. None in particular 
are designated for ordinary work, but the 
order is given to the watch on deck :" Go 
aloft, some of you, and do this or that," 
when they all spring into the shrouds ; and 
when it is seen that enough are on their way 
the hindmost fall back. 

In good weather, the sails which need 
mending are spread on the deck and sub- 
jected to the needle. The thimble instead 
of being on a finger is fixed on a leather 
" palm," which is drawn over the hand and 
affords the means of giving a strong push. 
It is composing to sit by and watch the sew- 
ing, or to lie in your hammock soothed by 
the measured monotony of the stitching and 
the plashing water. It is doubtful whether 
anything furnishes an invalid with more 
complete repose than a life on board a well- 
appointed sailing ship. 



Looking for Land. 63 

SOUTH AMERICA IN SIGHT. 

The captain sent a man aloft at six A. M. 
to look for land. In fifteen minutes he 
called down, Land ho ! It was Roccas Keys, 
one of the eastern projections of South 
America, about four miles from us. The 
white rollers soon showed themselves, with 
rocks behind the breakers. It was a pleasant 
sight in the morning sun, a relief after seeing 
nothing for a long time but the seemingly 
endless waters. A current had set in, but 
we were still in fifty fathoms of water. 
After watching the breakers an hour they 
disappeared. At four P. M. the captain think- 
ing that we were too near the shore to pass 
Cape St. Rocque and Cape St. Augustine, 
tacked for two and a half hours, which made 
him feel sure of clearing the land in the 
night. 



64 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

SOCIAL LIFE AT SEA. 

The twenty-fifth of November was a beau- 
tiful day in contrast to the probable state of 
the climate at home, and calling us all on 
deck. One of the passengers sat plying her 
needle on the chief signal flag, another writ- 
ing, one enjoying the soothing influences of 
the day in his hammock, the captain fixing 
his signals with a contrivance for keeping 
them separate and easily handled. Soft airs 
were about us. The clouds showed that we 
were in the trade wind region. Instead of 
banks of clouds and thunderheads there were 
innumerable fleecy clouds, mostly small, giv- 
ing a calm look to the heavens. We seldom 
see this for a long time on land. We are in 
all respects the larger part of the time as if 
we were in a pleasure boat. No doubt other 
ships would awaken as agreeable sensations, 
but we are much of the time impressed with 
the gracefulness of our ship's . motions. We 






Steering. 65 

are instructed that this is owing in part to the 
stowage. She is not too much " by the 
head " nor " by the stern ; " yet, after all, 
there is sometimes an indescribable air of 
beauty in a craft which the wisest builder 
will fail to define or to account for, while 
every one sees and feels it. Wholly ignorant 
of niceties in the art of steering, I soon 
learned by the action of the ship that it 
made a difference in her behavior whether 
one man or another were at the wheel. 
Many a time have I been so impressed with 
the way in which the ship rode the waves 
that I have left my seat to see who was 
steering, and have found that Nelson was 
having his trick at the wheel. Kelson is a tall 
sailor, about fifty years of age, an American, 
not always as exemplary on shore for his 
temperate habits as at sea he is skillful in his 
profession. He has the eye and hand of 
a marksman in encountering groundswells, 



66 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

running through chop seas ; making me think 
of the gallant manner in which some police- 
men help ladies cross the thoroughfares. 

NIGHTS AT SEA. 

For nearly a month we have had quiet 
nights. Sleep is as deep and dreams as 
natural as on shore. Bed time is at half 
past nine and breakfast at half past seven. 
Going to sleep or waking in the night know- 
ing that a mate and fifteen men are up and 
round about you and will be succeeded once 
in four hours by others, it is not strange that 
you should have a feeling of repose. It is 
useless for you to have an anxious thought. 
You could not go up to the royals nor out to 
the jib in an emergency ; these men will go 
for you. How would it do at home to feel 
that angels who excel in strength are in the 
dwelling, in the cars,- being caused to fly 
swiftly to keep you in all your ways ? 



Beauty of the Waves. 67 

"WATCHING THE WAVES, 

We spent the afternoon on deck watching 
the waves, they being fairly entitled to the des- 
ignation of billows. The sea was white with 
foam, though the day was fine ; while round 
about the ship the eddying water presented 
numberless forms of beauty. These words 
by one of the poets are sometimes as true of 
sea water as of fresh : 

" How beautiful the water is ! 

To me 'tis wondrous fair ; 
No spot can ever lonely be 

If water sparkle there. 
It hath a thousand tongues of mirth, 

Of grandeur or delight, 
And every heart is gladder made 

When water greets the sight." 

Every now and then an enormous wave 
would break astern or about midship, like a 
mad pursuer compelled suddenly to give up 
the chase and die with a roar which seemed 
to tell what it would have been glad to do. 



68 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

It was Saturday afternoon, the time devoted 
by us at home to driving into the country ; 
but the larger part of the afternoon went by 
unheeded while we were watching these 
frantic waters spending themselves one after 
another in their harmless wrath. There is 
more of pleasurable excitement in such a 
contemplation in a ship under sail than in 
driving ; the sea air in fine weather giving 
exhilaration to the system which is in some 
degree a substitute for exercise. The cease- 
less play of the water, never repeating itself 
in the same shape, interests the mind without 
fatigue, keeps attention awake by new sur- 
prises. We were at the mouth of the River 
La Plata, or " the River Plate," as it is 
familiarly called, between Uragua and Para- 
guay, a region for disagreeable weather. 
Squalls, thunder and lightning, rain, every- 
thing which can make sea faring people un- 
easy, abound. But though we are nearly 



Changes of Climate, 69 

opposite the mouth of the river we are enjoy- 
ing a perfect day. Still we are notified that 
we are in a region where we must not be sur- 
prised at sudden changes. Since a week 
after leaving New York we have been in ex- 
hilarating weather. All through November 
the thermometer has been at 60 or 70 in the 
cabin. On deck it has been cool enough, in 
the shade of a sail or under an awning. It 
was only the night before last that I felt the 
need of more than a sheet for a covering, 
though it was the fifth of December. The 
mere thought of sitting on a doorstep or 
piazza at home at this season to watch the 
stars, brought forcibly to mind the contrast 
of our respective climates. Home is 43 de- 
grees north of the equator; we are now, 
Dec. 20th, thirty-seven degrees south of it ; 
hence we are 43 — j— 37 = 80 degrees from 
home ; and sixty miles being a degree we 
are 80 X 60 = 4800 miles from home, not 
reckoning the difference in our longitude. 



70 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

We went to sleep with everything favoring 
the expectation of a peaceful night, but at 
midnight the tramp of feet on deck revealed 
that all hands had been summoned to take 
in sail. The noise made by the heavy boots 
of thirty men was not unlike the noise made 
by horses on being removed from a burning 
stable. The scene on deck that night must 
have been a good specimen of " River Plate 
weather," judging from the description given 
of it by the officers. The captain said in a 
letter which he sent home : — 

" At eleven o'clock a bank of clouds rose 
in the northern horizon with occasional 
flashes of lightning. As the clouds crept 
toward the zenith the flashes grew more fre- 
quent until they became incessant, playing 
over the whole of the north western sky ac- 
companied by constant growls of thunder. 
Thinking a heavy squall was near I took in 
the royal and top gallant sails, hauled the 
courses up snug, had the topsail halyards and 



Storm off River Plate. 71 

braces all laid down clear and kept the men 
standing by. When the clouds reached the 
zenith sharp flashes of lightning came at 
short intervals in addition to the constant 
display of heat lightning which had spread 
over the whole sky, keeping it in a perpetual 
blaze which I can compare only to a universal 
Aurora Borealis. Then it began to thunder 
in terrific peals with a continuous growl in 
the way of a running sub bass. I ordered all 
the cabin shutters to be closed tight that 
the flashes might not startle the sleepers, for 
it seemed as though the most brilliant day 
were alternating moment after moment with 
the blackest night. Then it began to rain. 
To use a sailor's expression, " every drop was 
a bucketfull." In the most literal sense, it 
poured. Every flash seemed the reopening 
of the sky, while the thunder had a combined 
sound of rattling and roaring, each of these 
noises vieing with the other, making me feel 



72 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

as though parks of artillery were crashing the 
reservoirs, bringing down their contents by 
floods. Withal, there was the phenomenon 
which landsmen are slow to believe, balls of 
fire resting on the trucks and yard arms, and 
called by sailors, " corpasants," (a corrup- 
tion of " corpus sancti ") these electric fires 
appearing to envelope the ship, availing 
themselves of all its points. All this was a 
combination of sights and sounds characteris- 
tic of the River Plate region. I thought 
every moment that a hurricane squall would 
burst upon us. It did blow hard. The 
wind changed entirely round the compass by 
spells, catching us aback two or three times, 
compelling us to brace the yards round, but 
the gale did not amount to anything serious. 
In a couple of hours the storm subsided. 
While it lasted it was appalling . All the 
powers of the air seemed to be in requisition 
to work some disaster." 



After a Gale. 73 

Some days later upon going en deck in 
the morning, the scene was a picture of 
desolation. A heavy gale was blowing and 
several sails had been stripped off by the 
winds. The mast and spars made me think 
of the nut trees in the country after a 
gale when the leaves are gone ; the spars 
were hardly clothed with canvas enough to 
keep the ship on her way, the few sails 
which remained being furled, to save them ; 
only some of the canvas about the bowsprit 
and foremast being spread, with the mizzen 
staysail, to prevent the ship from broaching 
to. Eighteen men were aloft securing the 
sails, the ship going only two or three knots. 
Some of the torn sails had been sent down 
on deck. I never desired more the skill of a 
draftsman that I might picture the appear- 
ance of some of the sails as they came down 
after the gale had spent its ingenuity in rid- 
dling them. The shapes of the rents could 



74 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

not have been contrived by human skill ; the 
canvas was not merely torn, it was picked in 
pieces, mocking any attempt to bring it to- 
gether and even to divine how its parts were 
ever related to each other. The way in 
which the sail cloth was dishevelled by the 
gale, laid out in shreds, every thread loosened 
from its neighbor, some parts of the sail 
mangled, other parts minced as no art of 
human fingers or mechanical skill could rival, 
made the sailors despair of any attempt to do 
mending in the premises. They wound large 
parts of a topsail together for scouring-rags, 
some of it for cleaning brass work and other 
uses, for which the riddling wind had made 
the duck surprisingly soft like flannel, and 
some of it like lint. 

It seems fearful to lie so far removed from 
the habitable parts of the globe, a little com- 
pany of human beings without neighbors, 
and with no means of help should we need 



Cape Horn Solitudes. 75 

it. Yet there are birds flying around us ; 
some of them are resting on these waves. 
This inspires us with a feeling of safety. 
The sight of life in these creatures seems to 
be a connecting link between us and the 
living God. " From the ends of the earth," 
literally, we cry to God when our hearts are 
overwhelmed by a sense of solitude. I am 
writing in a large easy chair, in which 
it requires some effort to preserve an upright 
position. The chair is made fast with rope 
yarns tying it to staples driven in to the 
floor ; but for these I should go over. My 
inkstand is lashed with seizings to the swing- 
ing rest in front of me, diverting my atten- 
tion from writing to the ink in the glass 
which at every roll of the ship climbs so 
nearly to an angle of forty-live degrees as to 
excite apprehension that it will spill. Ink is 
at best a source of mischief to all of us under 
the wisest precautions. What should I do 



76 Under the Mizzen Mast', 

just now should mine run over the floor ? 
The stream would look as capricious as the 
wanderings of the children of Israel in the 
wilderness look on the map. I could not 
run for help, nor even stand, to call ; I will 
put the cork in after dipping the pen when 
we are midway between a lee and weather 
roll. The girls are sewing as composedly as 
at home, one of them reading aloud from 
Dickens' Mutual Friend. When I raise my 
eyes from my papers and look out of the 
window and see the water racing by us, 
white with foam, I need only the jingling of 
bells to make me fancy that I am in a sleigh. 
The man at the wheel keeps his post in his 
oil-cloth coat ; I hear the pelting rain when the 
door is opened by the captain going up to ask 
" how she heads ; " the gale is strengthening ; 
we are nearing Cape Horn. 



A Stormy Night. 77 

ALL NIGHT AWAKE. 

The ship rolled so incessantly all night 
that I lay awake till morning. The carpen- 
ter has made me a berth board which raises 
the outer edge of my mattress so that as 
the ship rolls I am able to preserve an equi- 
librium. But everything in my room which 
could get loose was piled up in a promiscuous 
heap. For the first time for six weeks I did 
not appear at breakfast, but lay till 11 A, M. 
hoping to sleep. 

EVENING SEEVICE. 

The gale lasted all day. In the evening 
we had religious services with the watch be- 
low. The captain read a chapter, made re- 
marks, and called on me to follow. I told 
them how I had heard one of the boatswains 
singing, " Jesus sought me when a stranger," 
in the hymn " Come thou Fount," &c, writ- 
ten by Rev. Mr. Robinson, a Baptist minister 



78 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

in England, who, as a distinguished hymnolo 
gist of Baltimore told me, quoting from an 
English paper which he has preserved, depart- 
ed from his early faith, but in after years when 
driving with a friend he heard singing and 
stopping to listen these words of his own 
hymn caught his ear : 

" Jesus sought me when a stranger 
Wandering from the fold of God; " 

when Mr. Robinson, lifting his hands as in 
prayer, said, " I would give worlds if I could 
now feel as I did when I wrote that hymn." 
The incident seemed to me a remarkable in- 
dicating of divine grace endeavoring to call 
home a wandering sheep to the Shepherd and 
Bishop of souls, by causing him to remember 
so forcibly his former religious hope. 

CAPE HORN LATITUDES. 



Dec. 14. At eight and a half o'clock, 
p. M. it is light enough on deck to read small 
print, The day breaks at two, and there is a 



Resuming the Ministry. 79 

long morning twilight ; the sun rises at four. 
We have to-day passed 50° S. This is the 
beginning of the Cape Horn region. 

To-day we have been running seven knots 
with a fair wind, and going in toward the 
coast, for several nautical reasons. At four 
P. M. we saw a dense cloud forming and in 
half an hour there came a heavy rain and 
fresh breeze, the ship going twelve knots, so 
fast that we shortened sail lest we should 
get out of the line of the Straits of Lemaire 
and run too near the Falkland Islands. The 
captain's plan of steering for the coast proved 
as he expected, for now the southwest wind 
would have set us too far east. 

RESUMING THE MINISTRY, AT SEA. 

Dec. 19. Had services in the evening at 
seven by day light. It was the anniversary 
of my first sermon as Colleague pastor of the 
First Church at Cambridge, forty years ago. 



80 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

It was my first attempt to preach since 
February 14th. On account of uneasy mo- 
tion in the vessel, sat and conducted the ex- 
ercises. Did not feel the least inconvenience 
from the effort but slept quietly all night. 



II. 



"GAPE HOEN. 

All places that the eye of Heaven visits 
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens. 
Teach thy necessity to reason thus: 
There is no virtue like necessity. 

. Shakspeare : Richard II. 



^|||T six o'clock, a.m:, Dec. 20, a man at 
the mast-head cried, " Land, ho ! " 




We saw the highlands of Tierra del 
Fuego, about a hundred miles from Cape 
Horn. We lay on the water motionless. 
About a mile from us was a brig apparently 
bound the same way 8 The captain ordered a 
boat to be made ready ; and the mate, one of 
the boatswains, and three sailors, rowed to 
her. She proved to be the brig " Hazard," 
Capt. Lewis, of Boston, belonging to Messrs. 

81 



82 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Baker and Morrill, eighty days from Malaga, 
bound to San Francisco, with raisins and 
lemons. The visitors received much informa- 
tion, and gave papers, — which, though fifty- 
seven days old, were gladly received, — some 
buckwheat, and other things; and received 
kind tokens in return. The swell would 
often hide the boat from the ship and the 
ship from the boat, except the upper sails. 
In the afternoon the wind sprung up fair ; 
soon we came close to, and the captains had 
conversation. 

Tierra del Fuego lies south of Patagonia, 
separated by the Straits of Magellan. It has 
high hills, which, at a distance, look like 
domes. Many bays indent the coast, causing 
it to bend frequently. Between this- district 
of country and Staten Land or Island, are the 
Straits of Le Maire, twelve miles broad. 
Entering the Straits with a fair wind and a 
strong current, on the morning of a bright, 



Tierra del Fuego. 83 

cool day, Dec. 21, we went at the rate of 
thirteen knots. We came alongside of a 
great patch of seaweed and kelp on which 
were eleven large birds. We had tacked or 
had been becalmed for almost a week, losing 
nearly five days. We therefore enjoyed our 
speed the more. The hills were picturesque 
in the variety of their shapes ; their jagged- 
ness and grouping were beyond imagination. 
One cluster was surmounted by an enormous 
stone, fluted like a sea-shell, looking as if it 
were placed there for a memorial purpose. 
There was another hill which terminated 
in the appearance of a man's head, the face 
upward, the features regular, and so much 
resembling one of the sailors that it received 
his name. Flocks of wild ducks, twenty or 
thirty in each, albatrosses, cape hens, cape 
pigeons, penguins or dryers, were abundant. 
These penguins float with only the head 
above water, and dive often ; they all made 



84 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

the scene most lively. We sat or stood three 
or four hours enjoying the wild enchantment. 
It was worth to any one a voyage from New 
York. We saw no trace of an inhabitant. 
They are said to . be of large stature, almost 
naked, their skin and flesh toughened by the 
climate. They do no tillage, but live on 
shell-fish and game. I shall always remem- 
ber this region for its wild beauty and seem- 
ingly intense barrenness. 

We came up with a New-Bedford whaler ; 
the name " Selah " was on her quarter, whale- 
boats over her side, and men at the mast-head, 
looking for whales or seals. We also de- 
scried a large ship ahead of us which we 
overtook. She proved to be the " Cambri- 
an," Liverpool, seventy days out. We en- 
joyed the sight of her, an iron vessel, with 
wire rigging, neat and handsome. 

At length we saw Cape Horn Island, the 
object of our desire, and at 7, p.m., were 



Cape Horn Island, 85 

abreast of it. Some high rocks stood about 
like sentinels. We were within a mile of 
the Cape. 

Cape Horn Island is the southernmost ex- 
tremity of Tierra del Fuego, in south latitude 
55° 58'. It is the southern termination of a 
group of rocky islands surmounted with a 
dome-like hill, out of which is a projection 
like a straight horn. But Schouten, the 
Dutch discoverer, is said to have named Cape 
Horn from Hoorn, in the Netherlands, his 
native place. The whole hill is a bare rock ; 
indeed, how could anything, even the lowest 
forms of vegetable life, find root on a place 
smitten as this is by the waves ? Only the 
lichens, stealing with seeming compassion 
over every form in nature doomed to barren- 
ness, succeed in holding on to these rocks. 
The hill is about eight hundred feet high, its 
base environed by low, black rocks, with not 
a sign even of marine vegetation. One line 



86 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

of these rocks looks like a fort, the seeming 
gateway, higher than the rest of the wall, 
being composed of perpendicular fragments. 
All along the base of the rough hill, low, 
irregular piles, like a growth of thorns and 
brambles around a bowlder in a field, con- 
stitute a fringe, as though Nature felt that 
the place needed some appropriate decora- 
tion ; and what could be more so than that 
which she has here given ? For a long space 
toward the termination of the Cape, sharp 
rocks stand up in groups, and some apart, 
making a gradual ending of the scene, all in 
agreement with the wildness which marks 
the region. 

The sight of this spot, one landmark of our 
continent, can never fade from the memory 
of the beholder. Like many a distinguished 
object it is of moderate size, its impressive- 
ness being due not to its bulk or height, but 
to its position. At first you are disappointed 



Cape Horn. 87 

in not seeing at such a place something colos- 
sal ; you would have it mountainous ; at 
least, you would have thought that it would 
be columnar. Nothing of this ; you have 
the disappointment which you feel on see- 
ing for the first time a distinguished man, 
whom you find to be of low stature, whereas 
you would have had him of imposing appear- 
ance. But soon, however, you feel that you 
are at one of the ends of the earth. Here 
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans begin, the 
great deep dividing itself into those two 
principal features of our globe. Anything 
monumental, any thing statuesque, or even 
picturesque, here, you feel would be trifling. 
Like silence, more expressive at times than 
speech, the total absence of all display here 
is sublimity itself; you would not have it 
otherwise than an infinite solitude, unpreten- 
tious, without form, almost chaotic. Around 
this point it is as though there were a contest 



88 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

to which ocean each billow shall divide ; here 
the winds and waters make incessant war ; 
the sea always roars and the fulness thereof. 
The rocks which finally terminate the Cape 
stand apart, as you sometimes see corners of 
blocks of buildings where an extensive fire 
has raged and the most of the walls have 
fallen in ; but here and there a shoulder of 
a wall overhangs the ruins. 

We stood together as we passed the last 
landmarks, and sang, 

" Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." 

It had been a day from beginning to end of 
constant pleasure, from the moment that we 
entered the Straits of Le Maire. We had 
accomplished one great design in our voyage. 
Would that the pleasant theory that musical 
sounds leave their vibration in the air might 
have reality given to it, and praise to God 
break forth from all of every language who 
navigate the Cape ! 



Cape Horn. 89 

We had reason to feel that we were not a 
great way from circumpoiar regions ; for at 
a quarter before eleven, the night previous, 
there were lingering streaks of pink light in 
the west. We never before read out of doors 
so late in the evening as we did that 21st of 
December on deck. 

We had been steering south, going five de- 
grees below the Cape ; then we needed to 
turn and go northward ; but the fierce winds 
made no account of our plan. You may be 
several weeks trying in vain, as a ship be- 
longing to our firm was, to double the Cape ; 
but by favoring winds, we were only six days. 
Once only during this time had we a full 
view of the Horn ; our captain had* been 
here six times, and now for the second time 
only saw the Cape. Nothing lay between 
us and the Antarctic Circle and the South 
Pole. The waves were Cape-Horn swells, 
peculiar to that region. The sight of the 



90 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

ocean there was wild beyond description. 
Now and then the sun would come out, but 
his smile seemed sarcastic. Going on deck 
to view the tempest you are made to feel, as 
the ship goes down into deep places, that 
you would be more surprised at her coming 
up than if she should disappear. It is a 
good time and place for faith. One of the 
Latin fathers said, u Qui discat orare, discat 
navigare ; " Let him who would learn to 
pray go to sea. It is to be doubted whether 
there are many places on the globe where 
one feels the power of solitude precisely as 
here. In the depth of a wilderness, or among 
mountains, solitude is more like death ; but 
here it seems to have consciousness ; you are 
spell-bound by some awful power ; there is 
an infinitude about these watery realms ; it- 
seems like being in eternity. In the ascent 
of Mont Blanc, while gazing from the Mer 
de Glace on those needles of granite, inac- 



Cape Rom. 91 

cessible except to the eagle, I once felt that 
nothing could exceed the sense of desolate- 
ness there inspired ; but to be at the end of a 
continent, with two oceans separating and 
forming a wild race-way where they go asun- 
der, all the winds and storms being sum- 
moned to witness the inauguration of two 
oceans, their frantic uproar seemingly de- 
signed for the great occasion, Patagonia and 
Tierra del Fuego with their stupendous soli- 
tudes listening to the clamor ; and then the 
feeling that the next place recorded on the 
map is the Antarctic Circle, with its barriers 
of cold and ice, you are warranted in the 
conviction that you are as near the confines 
of unearthly dimensions as you can be on 
this planet. You think of home, and the 
thought of your separation from friends and 
country and your consignment to these awful 
wilds, gives you a feeling of littleness, of 
nothingness, seldom if ever experienced else- 



92 Under the Mizzen Mast;] 

where. And here is the proud ship that 
stretched her length in the pier at New York 
so far as to hold her spar over the passing 
drays, reaching almost to the opposite ware- 
rooms, now less than an egg-shell in these 
waters, - — a tiny nautilus, a bubble, whose 
destruction any moment, unseen by any 
human eye, could not detain any of these 
proud waters to be so much as a mound over 
her grave. 

One day, before we entered the Straits and 
reached Cape Horn, along the neighborhood 
of Patagonia, the sea was more than usually 
disturbed, a ground-swell succeeding a gale 
lifting the waves higher than we had seen 
them, so that the motion of the ship had no 
uniformity for any two consecutive moments 
during the larger part of the day, — a cold, 
cheerless day, the sun now and then shining 
faintly, the wind ahead, no chance for a nau- 
tical observation, everything to the last de- 



Houncl the Horn. 93 

gree forlorn. A bird came in all this tur- 
moil and lighted in the water near the ship, 
and swam about us. The sight suggested 
the following lines : — 

THE CAPE-HORN ALBATROSS. 

The ship lay tossing on the stormy ocean, 
A head wind challenging her right of way; 

Sail after sail she furled ; in exultation 
The waves accounted her their yielding prey. 

On her lee beam the Patagonia coast line 
Keeps ambushed reefs to snare the drifting keel; 

We fancied breakers in the dying sunshine, 
And questioned what the daybreak would reveal. 

No cities, towns, nor quiet rural village 
Gladden the heart along this lonely way; 

But cannibals may lurk with death and pillage 
For all whom winds and currents force astray. 

The Falkland Isles, Tierra del Fuego, 
Straits of Le Maire, the near Antarctic Zone, 

The stormy Horn, whose rocks the tempest echo, 
Can faith and courage there maintain their throne ? 

Watching the swell from out the cabin windows, ^ 
The towering waves piled high and steep appear; 

But what is riding on those mighty billows? 
An albatross. The sight allays my fear. 



94 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Her snow-white breast she settles on the water, 
Her dark wings fluttering while she trims her form, 

Then calmly rides ; nor can the great waves daunt her, 
Nor will she heed the menance of the storm. 

She spreads her wings, flies low across the vessel, 
She scans the wake, then sails around the bows, 

Not moving either pinion; much I marvel 
How like one flying in a dream she goes. 

She craves the presence of no other sea-bird ; 

She revels in the power to go at will; 
The ocean solitudes, the wandering seaward, 

The distant sail, her daring spirit thrill. 

Behold, this fowl hath neither barn nor storehouse ; 

An unseen Hand assists her search for. food; 
Storms bring her up deep things of ocean's produce, 

Prized the more highly in the storm pursued. 

With joy each day I'll take the wings of morning, 
Dwell in the utmost parts of this lone sea ; 

E'en there thy hand shall lead me, still adoring, 
And thy right hand shall hold who trust in Thee. 

BOUND THE HORN. 

It became stormy in the afternoon of De- 
cember 21st, with rain. We were driven off 
our course. The sea came over the sides of 
the main deck. The motion of the ship was 



Round the Horn. 95 

that of a rocking horse. She was so full of 
a cantering spirit that I knew it would be 
useless to expect sleep in my birth, so I lay 
upon a cabin sofa and had rest. The waves 
were Cape Horn swells. We are directly at 
the foot of the American continent inclining 
upwards toward the North. Should we do 
as well the rest of the way as the preceding, 
we shall be a hundred and twelve days only 
from New York to San Francisco. We were 
all on deck this afternoon enjoying the Cape 
Horn scenery. The captain and I talked of 
an event in our family history when he was 
eight years old, which made this day memora- 
ble. We did not then dream of going round 
Cape Horn twenty-one years from that day. 
" O how great is thy goodness which thou 
hast laid up for them that fear thee, which 
thou hast wrought for them which trust in 
thee before the sons of men." 



96 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

DANGERS IN THE CABIN. 

Dec. 24. The gale to-day exceeded any- 
thing which we have had. The sight of the 
ocean was wild beyond description. I went 
on deck and held on, to see the tempest. 
The ship went down into deep places, more 
profound, seemingly, than ever before. But 
she is a noble sea boat. We have under- 
stood how men become enthusiastically at- 
tached to the vessel which they are ready to 
think has consciously borne them around the 
globe. 

You soon are so much used to the wild 
behavior of the sea that you lose all appre- 
hension of danger. Some experiences in the 
cabin, in bad weather, make you feel that 
you are more safe on deck where you seem 
to have more ' sea room.' It is hard to walk 
in the cabin ; the walls are so near you that 
your eye is more affected with the motion 
than on deck. You must watch for a wind- 



Perils in the Cabin. 97 

ward roll, which does not let you down so 
low or so violently as a lee roll : then you 
run to your seat or to a side of the cabin, 
where you grasp something till the lee lurch 
has spent itself, when you make for the next 
point, like runners in playing ball. The 
difficulty of lifting your feet is marvellous. 
You are as really cumbered as though you 
had weights on your feet, or wore heavy 
clothing. It is amusing to see even the cap- 
tain pause in the middle of the cabin, unable 
to move, his feet judiciously wide apart, 
waiting for the back roll to restore the level. 
He retorts by expressing the wish that the 
congregation at home could see their pastor 
in his efforts to get across the cabin. 

But it is not all fun. I was sitting about 
six feet from the stove in the dining-room, in 
the forward cabin, in the low easy-chair 
which we brought from home. The back 
legs were inside a closet, the threshold of 



98 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

which it was hoped would serve for a stay 
against sliding ; when the ship gave a lurch, 
and I went head first into the low wooden 
box, in which the stove, a very heavy one, 
stood, my weight pushing the stove out of 
place, and bringing me down on my knees 
and wrists, the chair following me on my 
back. The steward ran and helped me up. 
After a few moments I was well, but I 
record this as a merciful preservation. Feel- 
ing strong and able-bodied, I have no trouble 
from such mishaps, but I would not advise 
a feeble person to go to sea, certainly not 
round Cape Horn ; but if he must go, to be 
as careful in the cabin as he can see that he 
must be on deck. 

CHRISTMAS AT SEA. 

It would have been pleasant to our friends 
to see stockings on our door handles and to 
witness the contents. Mine had a colored- 



Christmas at Sea. 99 

letter drawing of the words, " The Lord is 
my Shepherd ; " a long shoe-case made of 
duck, bound with green ; a small muslin bag 
filled with lumps of white sugar, marked, 
Cape Horn confectionary. The captain had 
a green necktie, made in a region where 
neckties are not often devised, the materials, 
however, unquestionably from " Chandler's " 
or " Hovey's ; " also a pen-wiper ; the mates 
had some articles of needle work, and chains 
made in part of bloom raisins which came 
the other day from the brig Hazard. Fresh 
raisins off Cape Horn are a greater curiosity 
and luxury than friends at home can sup- 
pose. The captain's presents to the donors 
of these gifts were, a jar of pickles and a 
bottle of olives ; mine were destined to be for 
some time useless, there being no shops in 
this region ; but the small pieces of gold ex- 
pressed a good intention. The afternoon 
was spent by a party, including the captain 



100 Under tie Mizzen Mast; 

and first mate, around the stove in the for- 
ward cabin listening to one of Dickens' 
Christmas Carols, they having already en- 
joyed six volumes of his works in beguiling 
some dreary afternoons ; also, in amusing 
themselves with the exercise of " bean bags," 
on deck. When it was dark we were enter- 
tained with narratives of expedients which 
were used in preparing the presents, the 
emptying of the rag bag and the search 
among its contents for materials, the difficul- 
ty of standing, of going about and even of 
sitting at work while the ship was playing 
her antics of position ; the devices by the 
principal actors in hanging up the presents 
so as to elude detection, pretending unusual 
wakefulness in sitting up beyond midnight 
and trying to persuade the captain that he 
needed sleep ; and especially the attempt to 
keep awake bej r ond the hour when the mate 
would come down to the pantry to refresh 



Christmas at Sea, 101 

himself with a bite of salt beef and pie. 
The amusements of the day ended with, put- 
ting down the cabin light and standing at 
the window to see and hear the boatswain 
perform his Christmas Carol, sitting in his 
little room, his feet on his bunk level with 
his head, he singing, " Shall we gather at 
the river ? " his pipe in his hand lifted to his 
mouth for a few whiffs at the end of each 
verse, the pipe seemingly performing the part 
of the customary interlude on the musical 
instrument at chnrch. So we had our Christ- 
mas presents where a year ago we little ex- 
pected. Last evening we observed our cus- 
tom of having Milton's Christmas Hymn read 
to us, the captain being appointed the reader. 
It was very dark and stormy at noon, but we 
had a merry Christmas 

Dec. 26. It rains, and there is the thick- 
est fog which it seems to me I ever saw. I 



102 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

groped my way into the bows, to look, as a 
transcendentalist would say, " into the in- 
visible." A sailor was in the bows alone, 
leaning against the forestay, wrapped in his 
oil-cloth coat, looking out for any vessel 
which might be passing. His watch was for 
two hours, a dreary, uninteresting service. 
He was a young man, full of zeal to go 
aloft, among the first to vent are out to the 
weather earring, to leap upon the swinging 
board over the side or stern in painting. 
None seem so happy as the boys of the crew ; 
but this duty of watching in a fog, of a cold 
day, has as little excitement in it as anj'thing 
in a sailor's routine. 

A YOUNG SAILOR'S EXPERIENCE. 

One who had been several years before the 
the mast and afterwards successively third, 
second, first mate, lately said to me, " When 
a young man, standing on the top gallant 



A Young Sailor's Experience. 103 

forecastle, leaning against the forestay, in a 
foggy day or dark night, the ship rushing 
into the dark unknown beyond, I sometimes 
thought, What if there should be an end to 
the sea, a precipice over which we should 
plunge, an undiscovered continent against 
which we should run ! How did Columbus 
feel on his first voyage in a fog or in dark- 
ness ? What a picture of life, its unknown 
future ! so little the sailor knows what may 
be ahead of the ship ; but the captain, confi- 
dent in his chart, compass and reckoning, 
knows tbe way that he takes." 

I have been much affected by what the 
young sailor told me of his first months 
before the mast ; how he parted with mem- 
bers of his family circle, the ship just taken 
in tow by the tug, the last line which held 
them to the shore cast off, he standing with 
his arm on the rail, his head on his hand, 
looking at those he loved best on earth, and 



104 Under the Mizzen Mast-; 

thinking what scenes he should pass through 
in the sixteen months before he should see 
them, if ever, again ; when he was roused 
from his reverie by the mate's calling to him, 
4C Boy, what are you standing there for ? go 
forward and tie up those cabbages." He 
saw one of his family waving a handkerchief 
to him ; but he was ashamed to be seen 
answering it ; the hour of sentiment had. 
passed ; he must go and tie up the cabbages. 
The first few nights at sea the profane, vile 
talk of some of the sailors at night used to 
keep him awake, astonished and terrified. 
He used to say to himself, My God ! have I 
come to this ? Did I once have a christian 
home ? Why did I leave it ? The physician 
said that I must go to sea, but he could not 
have known what life in a forecastle is. An 
old sailor said to me, ' Boy, do you know 
that you stepped into hell afloat, when you 
came here ? ' Soon I managed to stop up 



A Young Sailor's Experience. 105 

my ears when I turned in, so as not to hear 
the dreadful talk." 

I said to him, " How did you help using 
their language and practising their wicked 
ways ? " 

He replied, " So far from corrupting me 
you will think it strange, perhaps, if I say 
that it made me more pure. I left off some 
things which I used to practise without 
compunction. But the behavior of the men 
showed me what I should become, if I prac- 
tised any kind of wickedness. When I 
heard the men swear and talk ribaldry, I re- 
peated passages of Scripture as fast as I 
could, said all the hymns I could remember, 
and I knew a good many. My sister once 
promised me a half dollar if I would learn 
the Wesminster Assembly's Shorter Cate- 
chism ; I said it to her, and she gave me the 
money, and I used to say that Catechism 
over and over in bed ; Effectual Calling, 



106 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Justification by faith, and, What is required, 
and What is forbidden in each of the com- 
mandments, used to be to me in that fore- 
castle like a cloth dipped in some aromatic 
liquid and pressed to my face/' 

I told the young man that if he would 
write and publish his experience he might 
find, by the good that he would do, why 
providence led him into that bitter experi- 
ence in the forecastle. 

" I often think," said he, " of those words : 
' His way is in the sea,' for I am sure it has 
been so with me." 

The recollection of this narrative was 
forced upon me in looking into the fog as I 
lay in the knightheads and looked over and 
watched the cutwater breaking the way for 
the ship. But it grew cold, and I retreated 
to the stove. 

We had a lively time in the middle of the 
night. The jib could not stand the gale, 



Sailors Aloft. 107 

part of it was blown to tatters, much of it 
was blown away. It is a three-cornered sail, 
sixty feet in its extreme length. The men 
said that the noise of the wind among the 
loose sails was as though the forward part of 
the ship was breaking up. The watch below 
had turned in half an hour before, but now 
all hands were ordered on deck. Twenty-four 
men were on the main yard taking in the 
sail. It makes a landsman dizzy to see them 
standing aloft on a foot rope, the wind filling 
the sail and keeping it stiffly bent from them ; 
yet they must clutch it, bring it in against 
the wind, holding on by the little slack 
which they must contrive to gather, their 
feet meanwhile with nothing under them but 
a rope. I could liken the noise of the wind 
and the roar of the sea only to the noise 
made by an express train when you are 
standing on a platform at a railway station. 
The sound sleep into which I fell was not dis- 



108 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

turbed by this uproar, but it yielded to so 
slight a cause as the dropping of water upon 
my bed. The hot weather of previous 
weeks had made the chinks open, and now 
the rain had found its way through the deck. 
There was no more sleep in the premises 
for that night. An alarm of fire is hardly 
less effectual in its power to wake you than 
the slow, measured, dripping water. The 
captain brought his india rubber coat, spread 
it over the bed, and made a place for a pool, 
which in the morning was filled, the tenant 
having been obliged to beat a retreat for the 
remainder of the night to a cabin sofa. 

Dec. 26. We are almost round the Cape. 
From Lat. 50° South in the Atlantic to 50° 
South in the Pacific is called " round the 
Cape." We are getting into the longitude 
of Boston, 71° W., so that time with us will 
be the same as with those at home, for a 
while. 



The Ship's Track. 109 

THE SHIP'S TKACK. 

Dec. 27. We came within twenty-five 
miles of Tierra del Fuego again, on its 
western side, the wind setting us that way, 
so that we had to tack and run W. instead of 
S. E. The captain, after he has taken an 
observation, draws a line on his chart with 
his pen, showing the distance run and the 
direction for the last twenty-four hours. It 
is described for the last three days thus, (the 
line representing the number of degrees, 
according to an arbitrary measurement, and 
each day indicated by a cipher :) 

• i — o o .. 

Sometimes the course is deflected by con- 
trary winds ; for example, thus : 

which is a loss. Yie 
have a chart with the 

tracks of several ves- 
sels printed on it. One vessel was sixty days 




110 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

in getting round the Cape ; the winds let us 
pass in twelve. The vessel referred to made 
several squares in her course, with other 
geometrical figures, sailing a part of the time 
thus : 




You hereby see one cause of long passages. 
One day we made only eight miles out of one 
hundred and twenty sailed ; a few days be- 
fore we went two hundred and forty miles. 
One day while going round the Cape we 
gained so little that we should be, at that 
rate, one thousand days in getting to San 
Francisco. 

MAKING LAND ROUND THE HORN. 

Dec. 29. Saturday afternoon the captain 
said, " We shall see land before dark." At 



Close of the Year, 111 

sunset our hope was fulfilled. We saw, fif- 
teen miles off, a high hill in New Chili, 
formerly a part of Patagonia. We tacked and 
ran S. W. instead of N. W. To-day the 
head wind beat us within twelve miles of 
land, and again we had to tack. We must 
do it once more this evening. The captain 
evidently has a great strain on his mind, 
though he says but little. He keeps on deck 
a large part of the time of late, leaving little 
or nothing to the mates. 

. THE LAST BAY OF THE YEAS. 

A year ago to-day I should have antici- 
pated being anywhere as here. Never have 
I had so much cause for wonder and joy at 
the close of a year. Blessed sickness ! which 
prepared the way into the wilderness of 
waters. It would not be easy to trace the 
connection of the following lines which oc- 
curred to me about this time, with the medi- 



112 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

tations suggested by the close of the year ; 
but I had been thinking of our Omnipresent 
Saviour as once living in a house ; a humble 
dwelling, no doubt, in " a city called Naza- 
reth." It was good to think of Him who has 
now gone up on high that he might fill all 
things, as once tabernacled with men. The 
train of thought will serve for an illustration 
of the liberty which the mind will sometimes 
take of being independent of situation and 
circumstances : 



Poetry : ' Where Dwellist Thou f ' 113 

" Anrl the two disciples heard him speak, and they 
followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them 
following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? 
They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being 
interpreted, Master,) where dvvellest thou ? He 
saith unto them, Come and see. They came and 
saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day : 
for it was about the tenth hour. John i. 37, 39. 

This roof once covered him who built the sky ; 
A room inclosed him who now fills all space 
With thousand thousands rendering ministry ; 
He led the way to this His dwelling place, 
And two disciples shared his courtesies, 
Had friendly talk and brake their privacies, 
Nor once withdrew from him their wondering eyes. 

Sleep soothed him here whose eyes are flames of fire ; 
Here waked he at the crowing of the cock; 
Hunger and thirst his daily thoughts require 
Who now feeds worlds, as one would feed a flock. 
Here would he kneel in prayer; dominions own 
Him sovereign, bide his orders ; round his throne 
Prayers ceaseless rise, urged in his name alone. 

Not far from this abode the wild gazelle 
Cropped the red lilies and would venture near. 
The devils knew him, cried, foreboding ill, 
Fell down before him with tormenting fear. 
Diseases fled; he stayed the expiring breath, 
Bade the blind see; he brake the bars of death, 
His home, the while, despised Nazareth. 

By night upon this housetop oft he sat; 
He watched the young moon as the light of day 
Grew dim from east to west; he tarrying yet . 
Her crescent sank; on snow crowned Hermon lay 



114 Tinder the Mizzen Mast; 

The lingering twilight, with a roseate hue 

Tinging the snow, the small hills lost to view. 

He formed that light; he framed the darkness too. 

Let me helieve that on this humble floor 
His mother sought a piece of money lost, 
And swept the house; his young eyes counting o'er 
The pieces nine, she craved the stray piece most. 
He wandering o'er these hills of Galilee 
Beheld a flock all shepherdless and free, 
The shepherd searching one through brake and lea. 

Faith loves the mystery which it cannot read, 
How he a child once in a manger lay, 
Yet prayed he thus: The glory which I had 
With Thee ere time was now repeat in me. 
The eastern wise men to his cradle came, 
Yet said this child; "Ere Abraham was, I am;' 
He made the star which did their zeal inflame. 

All which the twelve possessed by faith I have; 
I live by faith of thee, thou Son of God ! 
Yet would I this my tabernacle leave 
And look upon my Lord in his abode. 
When in the lonesome valley praying thee, 
"Master, where dwelleth thou?" do thou on me 
Let fall the whisper, saying, ' Come and see '. 

NEW YEAR'S DIVERSIONS. 

The serious and ludicrous are near akin 
in emotional relationship, for we often pass 
without a shock from the one to the other, 
and it matters not which takes precedence. 
Some of our company younger than the rest 



New Year's Diversions. 115 

yearned for sport. So the captain said that 
they might have a candy scrape Accord- 
ingly some molasses was sent to the galley to 
be boiled, while the chief agents in the en- 
terprise shelled some nuts to be put into a 
part of it, the rest being intended to be pulled 
and therefore was kept clear. The molasses 
proved to be old and fermented, therefore it 
did not boil well and so could not harden. 
The result was, instead of nut candy, a pan 
of sour molasses mixed with nuts, which was 
offered to us as a second course at supper. 
The other half of the molasses was sentenced 
to be boiled over again. The steward ap- 
peared with it and laid it before the adepts in 
candy frolics ; but it looked like a mass of 
kelp ; he had vainly tried to work it into a 
state which would tempt the appetite ; but it 
was too stiff to be pulled, so he had chopped 
it into a likeness to sticks. Though it tasted 
burnt and sour, it was pronounced as good 



116 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

as could be expected.— At sundown one of 
the mates found some fire crackers which had 
escaped discovery in some former voyage. 
The sailors were allowed to celebrate the ad- 
vent of New Year, so they borrowed of the 
steward some tin vessels and as soon as eight 
bells were struck, forward and aft, they 
set up a fearful din and the crackers were 
fired, to welcome the incoming year. The 
noise resembled that with which, as we after- 
wards observed, the Chinese prelude their 
fights. In the midst of the tumult the sten- 
torian voice of the boatswain was heard 
resounding some admonitory strain, ending 
with his favorite canticle, " On Canaan's 
happy shore." 

FAIR WEATHER PAST THE HORN. 

After beating about the Horn for eight 
days, going only from forty to eighty miles 
day after day, a fine breeze sprung up and we 



Off the Horn. 117 

have for twenty-four hours been going at the 
rate of ten knots an hour, sometimes faster. 
To look out of the cabin windows and see 
the water racing by makes one dizzy, and 
you hasten on deck to gratify the eye with a 
longer range of sight. 

12 m., we have made two hundred and 
fifty-nine miles the last twenty-four hours, 
the best day's run of the voyage thus far. 
In the Gulf we made two hundred and fifty 
miles, and once nearly as much off the River 
Plate. 

One of the tiniest little fishes which we 
have seen was found on deck. It was 
washed over the side yesterday when every 
twenty minutes a sea came over the rail. 
The little thing shows us what the birds pick 
up at sea. " The small and the great are 
there." We are glad to see the smallest 
thing in this region of wonders in the deep. 

We are now fully round the Horn, having 



118 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

passed beyond 50° S., which completed the 
semicircle. At 12 M. one day lately we had 
gone beyond 50° to 43°. Patches of blue 
sky appear. Our spirits are revived. The 
ship seems to partake of our joy. Toward 
evening to-day she seemed to the captain 
to be exerting herself beyond her strength, 
having on a crowd of canvas. He ordered 
the royals to. be taken down, to our regret; 
but it relieved her. We are promised another 
race at daybreak should the weather be fair. 

CHANGE OF SEASONS AT SEA. 

One of the pleasant things about this 
voyage is, the frequent change of seasons. 
Leaving New York late in October we were 
in a few days in the warm region of the 
Gulf ; then came spring and summer in the 
tropics, then fall and winter with severe 
blasts round the Horn. To-day, Jan. 6th, 
spring seems to have dawned. By Jan. 20th, 



Frequent Change of Seasons. 119 

we shall have premonitions of summer heat. 
I took my old seat on the house under the 
mizzenmast, a mild air about me yet strong 
enough to bear the ship along at the rate of 
eight or nine knots, the sky clear, the water 
smooth, the horizon distinct, everything in- 
dicating our approach to the tropics. 

THE MORNING HOUR. 

If I were asked, "What recurs to you 
most frequently with pleasure in your expe- 
rience at sea thus far, I should say, The 
hour under the mizzen mast, morning after 
morning. The solitude there was unrivalled. 
In the depths of a forest you are not sure of 
being alone ; for you yourself have come 
thither, and what hinders the approach of 
others ? Half of the ship's company are 
asleep ; those who are up are busily occu- 
pied ; before you left your bed you heard the 
tramp of feet overhead. The dash of buckets 



120 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

of water, the noise of brooms, the holy- 
stone drawn backwards and forwards and 
athwart ship, and then the perfect quiet, 
made you feel that everything was ready for 
any one who wished to be alone on deck 
Behind you, but hidden from view by the* 
spanker, is the man at the wheel; the rud- 
der-head jounces monotonously at every turn ; 
a sailor here and there creeps about bare- 
footed ; the steward makes his official visits to 
the galley ; these, and the few others who 
are stirring, only seem to make you feel that 
you are isolated. The depths are around 
you ; the distant sail tells you that yonder is 
a company of human beings shut out like 
you from the world ; you understand how 
solitary you are, by musing on them ; you 
fancy how lonesome you would be sailing 
away, as they seem to be, from human fellow- 
ship, not considering that you are also. I had 
made an index to the book of Psalms, easily 



The Morning Hour. 121 

drawn up, and had written it on paper the 
size of a small ' Testament and Psalms,' twelve 
pages, and had pasted it in my small Testa 
ment. I did not need De Wette, nor Rosen 
muller, nor any other commentator to re- 
mind me that a word of David was in Hiphil 
or Hophal, Piel or Pual ; the index, looked 
over, beginning: A, As the heart panteth, 
42. B, Behold, bless ye, 134. D, Deliver 
me from, 59, would each day suggest a 
Psalm which seemed to have the same key 
note with the feelings with which. I had 
awaked. No song of bird, no wheels, nor 
hum of labor disturbed the exceeding peace 
which all nature seemed to have concentrated, 
in this morning hour in the solitude of ocean. 
I could not refrain from thinking how it 
would have been wholly broken up by pad- 
dle wheels or propeller, and by the sympathy 
which the jaded mind would have with the 
incessant walking beam, the alternating pis- 



122 Under the Mizzen Hast ; 

tons ; and by the column of black smoke, the 
imprisoned steam. Let trade, and strong 
nerves, and economy of time, and imperative 
engagements gratefully avail themselves of 
machinery in passing from one side of the sea 
to the other, but let some sailing vessels be 
spared, with their poetry of motion, and archi- 
ecture of canvas, mystery of rigging, habits, 
usages, phraseology, modes of life, the tar and 
slush, the going aloft instead of down into the 
furnace room, the laying becalmed instead of 
driving ahead impetuously, reckless of wind 
and weather. In our desire for the advance- 
ment of mankind, we do not calculate for in- 
disposition, It is out of place. But these 
clipper ships could not be better contrived 
for comfort, had they been arranged expressly 
for invalids. 

CLEANING SHIP. 

We are having the first premonition of 
port. The sailors are employed washing the 



Throwing Writings -Overboard. 123 

white paint with potash iu the way of spring 
cleaning. Every rope in the standing rigging 
is to be tarred and the ship is to be painted 
inside and outside, so that when she enters 
port she will look as new as when she left 
home. You may wonder how a vessel can 
be painted outside at sea. Here in the 
Pacific there are days when the weather and 
the swell of the sea allow staging to be lashed 
to the side, stern, and bows, and men move 
safely from pointrto point with brushes. 

THROWING MANUSCRIPTS OVERBOARD. 

When first I began to throw writings over- 
board I was careful to tear them into small 
pieces, supposing that they might be picked 
up. I soon learned that this was useless. 
The captain seeing me do it told me that he 
would be willing to throw any writing into 
the sea fearless of its being found and read. 
In a very little while the water would reduce 
it to pulp, the incessant motion would de- 



124 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

stroy it, and even if it did not, the chance 
of its being picked up or washed ashore 
would be many millions to one of its ever 
coming into anybody's hand. Among the 
countless things which we had seen afloat we 
never saw at sea a piece of writing. After 
this I took some old manuscripts on deck and 
threw them overboard, leaf by leaf. A ser- 
mon which one of the children at home had 
written for me in pencil from dictation I had 
copied in ink and the original was now use- 
less. Mother Gary's chickens flew down 
upon the pages as they one after another set- 
tled on the water, and finally a large alba- 
tross came, lighted on- the water, watched 
the leaves as they floated along and tried to 
eat one. We little imagined, that rainy 
afternoon as we sat on the piazza at Milton, 
that the leaves which one who may read 
this held in her hand would pass under the 
eye of a Cape Horn albatross on the Pacific 
Ocean. 



Sport at Sea. 125 

BURNING TAR BARRELS. 

When the sailors have used up a barrel of 
tar, they have sport in putting kerosene in 
the barrel, lighting it, and dropping it to lee- 
ward. It blazes, vehemently, and while we 
sail away from it we cannot persuade our- 
selves that it is not moving rapidly from us. 
The swell of the sea causes it to disappear 
now and then, rising up occasionally very far 
astern. Some on shore have thought that 
this might be a false light to vessels. Sailors 
are too well accustomed to the practice to be 
deceived by it ; but apart from this, in mid 
ocean there is no danger of mistaking it for a 
light house. — -Having spoken of dropping the 
barrel to leeward rather than to windward 
where it might be blown against the ship, I 
am reminded of a prudential maxim at sea : 
Never throw anything overboard to wind- 
ward but 1. Ashes ; 2. Hot water. 



126 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

TEN THOUSAND MILES FEOM HOME. 

We have sailed over ten thousand miles, 
and have five thousand more to sail before 
we come to " Frisco." It seems strange to 
think of arriving there by land in ten days 
from home, while we have been from Oct. 
26th to Jan. 12th, seventy-eight days, on our 
way. If we were in haste to reach our -port 
this difference of speed would try our pa- 
tience. As it is we are grateful ; it seems 
painful to be whirled along in ten days, night 
and day, instead of coming at our leisure un- 
mindful of time, willing to be where we are, 
indefinitely, except that we sympathize with 
the captain's desire to make a short voyage, 
and feeling willing also to shorten this part 
of our way knowing that we shall have suffi- 
cient experience of the sea by the time that 
we have belted the globe. 

A SAILOR AT HIS MEAL. 

Seeing a sailor go to the galley with his 



The Sailor at Meals. 127 

tin pan, receive his allowance from the cook, 
take it out on deck, seat himself on a spar, I 
was reminded of his limited supply of table 
cutlery. But in the first place he has no 
table. He holds his pan in his hand, lays 
his biscuit on the spar, his drink along side 
of it, takes his piece of potato, turnip, cab- 
bage with his finger, serves his bone in the 
same way, and if the piece of meat which 
has fallen to his lot needs to be divided he 
feels for his sheath knife which he carries all 
the time in its sheath behind him, holds the 
meat with one hand and makes the sheath 
knife play the part both of knife and fork. 
He wipes his fingers on his pants. Artificial 
and useless do many things appear at sea, 
as, for example, forks, napkins, and, of course, 
napkin rings, doilies, sugar bowls, slop bowls, 
saucers, ladles, dessert spoons ; in short the 
things absolutely indispensable at a sailor's 
meal could be counted on the fingers of one 



123 Under the Mlzzen Blast; 

hand, omitting the thumb and little finger. 
Yet there are frequently young men in a 
crew who have been used to the numberless 
luxuries of life. I had a talk yesterday with 
the son of a minister ; early in the voyage his 
fine face attracted me. He has eleven broth 
ers and sisters at home. He had a desire to 
see the world ; was weary of the shop, of the 
few associates in a country village. This is 
his first long voyage. He makes light of 
privations and dangers ; says that almost all 
the things which he used to have on the 
table at home would now seem superfluities. 
He would need experience to make them 
necessary. He would feel toward some of 
them, no doubt, as a sailor did in a boarding 
house who spit on the floor, which the waiter 
perceiving kept pushing a spittoon nearer to 
him ; till at last the sailor annoyed by it 
said, " If you keep pushing that thing so 
near to me I shall be in danger of spitting in 
it." 



The Southern Cross. 129 

BRILLIANT NIGHT. 

The moon set at half past nine, and left 
the heavens aglow. Imagine the milky way, 
without its milky appearance, all the haze 
gone, the stars in it in crowds. The nebu- 
lous light dissolves in brilliant worlds, the 
Southern Cross at one end, 



just above the Southern horizon, Orion at the 
other end in the zenith, and several of the 
bright constellations full in view.* 

THE SOUTH EAST TRADE WINDS. 

We celebrated a birthday a few days since, 
(Jan 8th,) by having the South East Trades 



* The following is from English " Notes and Queries ". 
" Feb, 15, lat. 22, 54, long. 55 28. At 11.50 saw the ' Southern 
Cross ' for the first time. This was the only commission } r ou 
gave to me, and I execute it as a matter of business." It may 
not be of any practical use to say that Dec. Gth we first saw it, 
when it was rising, in lat. 34. 10 S., long 50. G W. 



130 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

set in, blowing us on our direct course to San 
Francisco. Rose at six and sat on deck, the 
ship going at the rate of eleven knots, the 
foam flying before us in sheets. These S. E. 
Trade winds blow from 25° S. to the Equator, 
both in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 
The N..E. Trades blow from Lab. 30° N. to 
lat. 5° N * 

RELIGIOUS INTEREST. 

My colleague, the captain, spoke to the 
crew on the Prodigal Son. We have con- 
versed with several of the men, and have 
found that there are anions them those who 
make a practice of secret prayer. We con- 
cluded to have a meeting in the evening, 
when we would explain the way to be saved. 
Twenty-four of the crew were present ; indeed 
all who could be spared from duty. I spoke 
from the words, " Ho, every one that thirst- 



* In Lieut Maury's Geography of the Sea, a most useful 
book, may be found a satisfactory account of the Trade Winds. 






Christian Instruction. 131 

eth," &c, (Is. 55^ and the captain followed. 
Some of them showed a-, tearful interest. I 
advised them to begin and act as believers in 
the Saviour of men, to give up the long, 
wearisome endeavor which some of them had 
confessed to me they had been pursuing for 
years, to find if they were christians, or 
when and how they became such. Several 
of them are members of christian families, 
all of them have heard the gospel, under- 
stand the way of acceptance with God, are 
respectful in their attendance on religious 
service, show at times that they are im- 
pressed with the truths which they hear. It 
is deeply affecting to speak to these men. 
Soon they will be scattered to the four winds. 
Few of them shall we meet again in this 
world. This thought cannot fail to make 
one affectionate and earnest in preaching to 
them. It may be, stated here that I never 
felt more deeply the privilege of declaring 



132 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

the gospel to men, nor did I in my congrega- 
tion ever feel more the need of carefulness in 
my statement of christian truth. These men 
weighed everything which was spoken, did not 
care for excellency of speech, nor man's wis- 
dom ; loved simplicity, felt nothing compared 
with the representations of Christ, his words, 
his treatment by men, his claims on them, his 
present and future glory, and his coming to 
judge the world. 

SCRIPTURE PROMISES. 

These have been a great, I may truly say, 
constant source of delight : " Have not I 
commanded thee ? Be strong and of a good 
courage ; for the Lord thy God is with thee 
whithersoever thou goest." Jos. I, 9. This 
was so impressed on my mind before leaving 
home, that I ventured to take it for my sail- 
ing orders. I feel that I have not come to 
sea of my own motion. I tried every other 






The Scripture at Sea. 133 

method of recovery, had many other plans 
of travel ; but one after another was frus- 
trated, and I was shut up to this, which, like 
a certain iron gate before a prisoner and his 
angel, is beautifully said to have " opened to 
them of his own accord." I have no expecta- 
tion other than that all will be well. Every- 
thing has proceeded so much better than I 
could have expected that there seems to be 
nothing to do but to receive trustfully every 
day's experience. Words of Scripture have 
had a wonderfully sedative effect. When 
the sea rises I remember, " The Lord on high 
is mightier than the noise of many waters, 
yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." 
Ps. 93. One day in the Gulf Stream, when all 
around was in confusion, I thought of these 
words : " The waters saw thee, O God, the 
waters saw thee ; they were afraid ; the 
depths also were troubled." Ps. 77 : 10. It 
was a comfort to know that there is One of 



134 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

whom the sea is afraid. If my heart can say, 
" God, thou art my God," why should I 
fear the sea ? I may even say, " Lord, if it 
be thou, bid me come to thee on the water ; " 
I may even come down out of the ship to go to 
Jesus. I was glad that the sea was afraid ; 
it gave me a feeling of superiority to the sea. 
Paul says, " And in nothing terrified by your 
adversaries, which," that is, your not being 
terrified, " is to them an evident token of 
perdition, but to you of salvation, and that 
of God." One morning, lately, at home, as 
I was rising, my eye was caught by these 
words in the' " Scripture Promises " which 
hung in my room : " When thou passest 
through the waters I will be with thee." Is. 
43 : 2. This, and the passage above quoted 
from Joshua, are most frequently in my 
thoughts. If those at home could look in 
upon us, they would give thanks. The day 
before we left New York, a clergyman who 






Morning and Evening compared. 135 

came on board said, " Probably the history 
of navigation contains no instance more re- 
markable than this : A father and daughters 
going to sea with a son and brother for cap- 
tain, with everything combining to make 
them happy. We said with thankful 
hearts, " The Lord hath done great things 
for us, whereof we are glad." 

SUNRISE ON DECK. 

On hearing eight bells last night I sup- 
posed it to be twelve o'clock. Having gone 
to bed at half past eight I felt rested, looked 
out of my window and thought I saw " The 
Dipper," not knowing but that the ship was 
tacking and going North. Wishing to salute 
our old friend, the north star, I put on my 
wrapper and went on deck and was told by 
the man at the wheel that it was five o'clock. 
The eight bells were for four o'clock instead 
of twelve, so soundly had I slept. I staid 



136 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

up to see the sunrise, wishing to correct the 
■ impression which I had long cherished that 
there is more to be enjoyed in the idea of 
sunrise than in its actual beauty. This I 
was willing to attribute to the want of dispo- 
sition when drowsy to appreciate the morn- 
ing. We are prejudiced in favor of a depart- 
ing day, look kindly on the advancing dark- 
ness ; we have pleasant associations with the 
season of repose ; it awakens no apprehen- 
sions of care, nor of labor ; each step of com- 
ing night is associated with quiet, while the 
opening day is the signal for noise ; we are 
not so much disposed to welcome an untried 
day with its liabilities, as a finished day 
which can make no new demands upon us. 
The valedictory of sundown implies less re- 
sponsibility than the salutatory of a new day. 
The progressive development of evening with 
the softening, fading colors, its pathos, finds 
us more disposed to sympathize with it 



Morning at Sea. 137 

than we are with a day yet to be tested. 
But morning has it votaries and its poetry. 
Therefore, 

" Now while the Heaven hy the sun's team untrod 
Hath took no print of the approaching light," 

let me see once more if the beauty of morn- 
ing is real or wholly ideal. There are no 
birds in our tops to herald its coming ; no 
living things to make it appear that they 
welcome the return of light, the flying fish 
are no more of them on the wing than when 
the ship at night breaks in among them, nor 
do the porpoises gambol more at day break 
than at noon. There is a touch of pathos in 
seeing the stars pale in the growing light ; 
but they cannot awaken much sentiment in 
us ; we find it, if at all, in the victories of 
light over' darkness ; the imprint of beauty 
on monotony ; the responses of the zenith 
and then of the west to the first outgoings 
of the morning in the east, the crimson bars, 



138 Under the Mizzen Blast-; 

the purpling cloud, the snowy top of a pile 
whose base is yet black. But do we not 
yield a ready response to these oft quoted 
words, or do we pass them over as the de- 
sponding language of a decaying race : " Let 
others hail the rising sun," and count it as 
merely an act of resistless sympathy to " bow 
to him whose course is run ? " It must be ac- 
knowledged that sitting on deck three quar- 
ters of an hour in a dishabille dress in the 
middle of January to see day break, required 
the temperature of Pacific latitudes to make 
the experience pleasant. I could not decide 
which to choose, abstractly. " The day is 
Thine, the night also is Thine." 

LOW TONES OF NATURE. 

One cannot but be impressed with the 
same thing at sea which meets us everywhere 
on the land, the low pitch of natural tones, 
In the wind, the thunder, the waves in mid 



Low Tones in Nature. 139 

ocean. If the thunder made the same indis- 
creet noises as some of our locomotives, 
thunder storms would be more appalling than 
they ever are now. May we not see the 
benevolence of God in this ? As one sits for 
a long time soothed by the wind blowing 
through the grass, so in listening to the 
waves around the ship he is not agitated but 
composed. Even in a tempest the key note 
of the wind through the cordage has a low 
pitch ; " strong without rage," much of the 
time. So with the roar of the sea. Men's 
voices in a multitude met for conversation par- 
take of the same quality. I remember that 
some years ago several gentlemen were in 
the Exchange in an English metropolis on 
some ordinary business day, and on going up- 
stairs they noticed the uniform pitch which 
the voices below naturally assumed. One or 
two of these gentlemen were musical men, 
who, on being appealed to, gave it as their 
opinion that the pitch was on F, and there 



140 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

being no excitement the hum or droning 
sound continued uniform on that low note. 
One may catch that note much of the time 
at sea ; yet there is no painful monotone in 
nature. There are, it may be, so many kinds 
of voices in the world, and none of them is 
without signification ; yet a wonderful har- 
mony prevails, without any artificial arrange- 
ment to keep the ruling pitch at F. 

THE SHIP'S GUNS. 

Our two guns, nine pounders, have been 
raised from the hold and painted black. 
They have been in the hold much of the time, 
and unless we meet a pirate they will not be 
needed, except in case of their being required 
to announce an astounding passage. A hun- 
dred and twelve days is the ship's shortest 
passage. We are only twenty-five hundred 
miles from San Francisco, which is . small 
compared to the fifteen thousand five hun- 
dred with which we began. 



Sea Trim. 141 

THE SHIP PUT IN PERFECT ORDER. 

Every thing about the ship, outside as well 
as inside, is in beautiful order. Even the be- 
laying pins, of which there are about forty, 
including all on each side of the deck and 
about the masts, have been scraped and var- 
nished. No house on shore is in a more 
creditable state of neatness. No idleness is 
allowed, but we are not so much at a loss to 
find employment for the sailors as was one 
captain, who, when everything about his ship 
was in perfect order, still kept his men occu- 
pied by setting them to scrape the anchors. 

CROSSING, THE LINE AGAIN. 

Jan 22. We crossed the line to-day. 
Nov. 22d we crossed it in the Atlantic. By 
land over the continent where we then were 
is four thousand miles ; but we have sailed 
thirteen thousand. We are two days behind 
the ship's shortest passage, and we watch the 



142 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

winds. To sit on deck in a summer suit, 
listening to the music of the water as the 
ship glides along, and watching the light and 
shadows, is perfect enjoyment to an invalid 
feeling that this medicine is accomplishing a 
cure. 

BONITOS. 

To-day one of the boatswains caught with 
a hook two bonitos. They are as large as 
the largest mackerel ; the flesh hard. We 
are to dine upon them to-morrow ; but what 
shall we do for lettuce ? Every now and 
then we are made to feel that there are some 
good things on land. But we are as often 
reminded what a barren region these deep 
waters are. They evidently were not de- 
signed to support human life. Instead of 
abounding in articles of food, we do not find 
any, except by accident, till we draw near to 
rocks, or run upon soundings. 



Employment Desired. 143 

WHALE FEED. 

Yet the Creator " opens his hand " even 
here, and ' satisfies the desires of every living 
thing.' At night we were startled by a bright 
light around the ship. We were in a patch 
of whale feed, a kind of skid, myriads of little 
creatures who give out a phosphorescent 
light. It seemed like a patch of the milky 
way. The mate lowered a bucket, hoping to 
bring some of the animalculse on deck ; but 
they either eluded us, or were too minute for 
observation apart. 

A MARINE ARTIST ON BOARD. 

If sailors are kept in good condition by 
being furnished with something to do, instead 
of being suffered to be idle, it is so with all 
of us. While one of the female passengers 
is sitting by me on deck, writing, the other 
has been furnished by the mate with a small 
paint brush, and is painting blue the brass 



144 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

hoops of the twelve deck water buckets. 
They are to stand in a row, each with a letter 
of the name of the ship, Golden Fleece, the 
name furnishing a letter for each of the 
buckets. 

THE END OF THE NORTH EAST TRADES. 

Having been almost becalmed for several 
days, the doldrum weather ended with a 
heavy rain last night. Going on deck after 
breakfast, we found the ship driving ahead 
nine knots instead of three. It was a merry 
sight. I betook myself to the hammock, 
and lay there till twelve, the captain and one 
of his sisters sitting by, writing home, and 
the other reciting Virgil to me, and learning, 
at my request, Hannah's song (I Sam. II.) 
It was one of the choice forenoons of the 
voyage. We gained a half day on the 
ship's best passage, and by one o'clock the 
wind increased, so that we are now only one 



Captain's Valedictory to the Crew. 145 

day and a half behind the enviable time. 
Pleasant as rest is, one cannot suppress the 
desire to be at work. 

BOSONS. 

Six or eight bosons have flown above and 
around the ship all day. Unlike the Alba- 
tross, they keep their wings in constant mo- 
tion ; the Albatross has none, after rising a 
little from the surface. They are white. 
The tail feathers terminate in a long sharp 
point, in resemblance of a marlinspike, which 
has led sailors to call the bird after the 
boatswain. 

THE CAPTAIN'S CLOSING ADDRESS. 

Feb. 6. This evening the captain invited 
the sailors to a valedictory religious service. 
He spoke to them from the words, " God is 
love," which he judiciously explained in con- 
sistency with the other attributes. He told 
the men that he never sailed with a crew 



146 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

with whom he was more pleased. He would 
be willing to have them all sail with him 
again, which he had never before been able 
to say to a crew. Of the various groups of 
laboring men with which I have been con- 
nected, I have never seen among them a 
greater proportion of faithful men, of good 
dispositions, civil behavior, pleasant manners, 
intelligent, and fully deserving the encomium 
of the captain. Some of them were from 
Northern European nations, and proverbially 
there are no better sailors than they, Danes, 
Swedes, Norwegians. Some of them were 
from highly respectable family circles ; for all 
of them I formed a strong personal attach- 
ment. It is with sorrow that I think of their 
leaving us, as of course they will soon after 
reaching port ; for after the manner of these 
citizens of the world, they will, the most of 
them, ship at once for sea again. Some 
of them came with us for the round voyage ; 
these will remain with us ; the rest will soon 



Crew of the Golden Fleece. 



147 



be like the gulf weed which falls into the 
many ocean currents. It was gratifying to 
think that for nearly four months they have 
been under christian influences, have listened 
to the word of salvation, have joined in 
christian worship, have had abundant oppor- 
tunities to read the Bible, listen to moral 
advice and religious instruction. I will re- 
cord the names of the whole company.* 

* Crew of the Golden Fleece, from New York to San Francisco, 
Oct. 26, 1869 — Feb. 12, 1870. 

MATES. 

Isaiah Bray, Yarmouth, Mass. 
Chas. H. Field, Providence, R. I. 

Boatswains. 
John Williams, Baltimore, Md. 
James Ryan, New Jersey. 

Seamen. 
John Reholm, Finland. 
Harvey Robson, Norway. 
J. H. Erlandf, Norway. 
Alvin W. Robbins, Nova Scotia. 
G. Parslow, Poughkeepsie. 
Tom Fox, Prussia. 
A. Fox, Germany. 
Charles Smith, New York. 
George Andrews, Scotland. 
C T. J. Coombs, Maine. 
Niel Thompson, Denmark. 



William Divern, Antwerp. 
Randolph P. Delancey, N. H. 
Charles Johnson, Sweden. 
Carl Helen, Sweden. 
John Miller, Sweden. 
Ferdinand Rvder, N. Y. (Citv.) 
G. G. Marschalk, Brooklyn,N.Y. 
W. J. Douglas, Washington. 
Willie H. Treadwell, Auburn- 
dale, Mass. 
James C Chase, Vermont. 
Robert Galloway, San Francisco. 

Carpenter. 
Samuel Adams, St. Johns, N. B. 

Steward. 
Pedro Cardozo. 

Stewardess. 
Anna Cardozo. 

Summary.— 2 mates, 2 boatswains, 23 men and boys, 1 car- 
penter, 1 steward, 1 stewardess. Total, 29. 

N. B. Sometimes the names of seamen are fictitious, for 
various reasons ; one, to prevent pain to friends should their real 
names be published if the men are lost. 



148. Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Feb 10. The captain called all hands into 
the forward cabin, and gave them a Temper- 
ance address, warning against the evil men 
who drug sailors, ship them on board a vessel 
just sailing, securing to themselves the 
sailor's advance wages, and thrusting him on 
board stupefied, leaving him to come to him- 
self at sea, perhaps bound on a long voyage, 
with but a pittance coming to him at the 
close. It was a capital lecture, full of anec- 
dotes ; it put the sailors in good spirits, af- 
fected them with its kindness, while it im- 
pressed them with its good sense.* 

As I must be much absorbed on arriving 
at anchorage, and shall wish to get my 
journal and letters into the mail at once, I 
will finish the journal now. 

In one sense God has kept my eyes from 



* It was gratifying that the Sabbath after we arrived at 
San Francisco, the crew attended public worship together at the 
Mariner's Church, filling several contiguous pews. In a week 
or two the most of them had shipped on voyages to different 
sections of the globe. 



lie Booh for Sea. 149 

tears ; but as it regards tears of joy, I have 
never felt like shedding so many. My princi- 
pal reading, (I will say again,) for the pleasure 
to my taste, if I were to mention no other rea- 
son, has been in the Old Testament. I know 
not why I should specify the book of Deuter- 
onomy, only it is noticeable in the account in 
Matthew of the Saviour's temptation in the 
wilderness, it appears that of his four quota- 
tions from the Old Testament prefaced by 
" It is written," thereby foiling the sugges- 
tions of Satan, three of them are in the 
Book of Deuteronomy. In the Old Testa- 
ment I have seen and heard God talking 
with men, which I have felt more at sea than 
on land. Whenever they prayed, there was 
sure to be an answer, excepting to the un- 
grateful, godless Saul. It has deeply moved 
me to think of God as always at hand when 
one prays. This has comforted me on the 
ocean. When I have heard the gale at night, 
or have seen the ocean lashed to fury, I could 



150 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

not resist the feeling : It is God, not nature ; 
God is doing something. This has kept down 
every feeling of fear, for I knew that the wind 
could not blow longer nor stronger than he 
should let it out. Nor was the ocean more 
than a little water in the hollow of his hand. 
The voyage has made permanent impressions, 
I trust, upon me, concerning the personality 
of God, his intimate knowledge, his personal 
love, all having their most perfect expression 
and seal in the life, and, above all, in the 
atoning death of Jesus Christ. 

Of course I have had thoughts of home 
which but for this would have agitated me. 
But why should I fear future events, with 
such experience as this voyage has given me ? 
How little I had to do about this voyage ; 
how manifestly it has been the work of God. 
Not according to my works, but of his mercy 
he saves me Had I done some great service 
for God, He could not make me feel his good- 
ness mors. Now it is all of grace, not earned, 



Private Worship in Israel. 151 

but for nothing. Far better this than though 
I felt that it was of works ; for his grace is a 
better foundation than our deserts. If he 
has done so much for me for nothing, I may 
confidently ask Him for all that I need. As 
I told the sailors one Sabbath, God never 
sells anything ; He never lets a man give 
him an equivalent ; He will receive as much 
grateful love as we will give, but nothing in 
the light of payment. 

Let me never feel on shore that if I were 
at sea I could have more vivid impressions of 
God's presence. The following lines I wrote 
to rebuke this feeling: 

PKIVATE WORSHIP IN THE CAMP OF ISEAEL. 

My God, how good to be 

In the wilderness with Thee 
When IsraeFs tribes pursued their desert way. 

Leaving the Red Sea strand 

To find the Promised Land, 
Thou shepherdest thy flock by night and day. 

So great a change in that one night! 
Pharaoh no more, the God of gods was then their risen 
light. 



152 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Treading the deep sea floor, 

Dry shod from shore to shore, 
The wall of waters piled on either hand ; 

Hearing the rushing waves 

Fill up the Egyptians' graves, 
The foremost vainly struggling for the land, 

Thee would I love with all my soul, 
My heart should rove no more ; God should possess the 
whole. 

Encamped where Elim spread 

Her palm-trees overhead, 
With wells of water springing all around, 

Not the new-found fruit 

Would so my longings suit, 
Nor the cold water from the pebbly ground 

Could so revive my spirit there, 
As when in some still place I sought my God in prayer. 

Now moves the ransomed host 

Far from the sea-washed coast, 
And plunges deep where foot hath seldom trod; 

And see that cloud by day 

Marking out their way, 
Guiding them safe as by a royal road. 

My God, I could not see that sign, 
And not with rapture cry, My soul, this God is thine I 

And when the night came on, 
The fading twilight gone, 
Or whether storms or stars should fill, the sphere, 



Private Worship in Israel. 153 

That pillared cloud grew bright 

With more than earthly light; 
No need of words to whisper, God is here. 

Finding some place beneath the sky, 
My God, my very present God! nightly I'd cry. 

When manna strews the ground, 

And quails the camp surround, 
And when the rock breaks forth. in living streams, 

And cities walled to heaven 

To them are freely given, 
Wonders of grace, exceeding all their dreams, 

My God! each day and hour I'd be, 
With heart and soul, a living sacrifice to thee. 

To see the words in stone 

Graven by God alone, 
To hear the voice which from the darkness spake, 

To see the man of God 

Trail his princely rod, 
And cry, "Forbear! my soul doth fear and quake." 

Gh, could I ever sin again! 
Would not my soul become thy living temple then? 

Behold the priest-borne ark 

Besting in Jordan; mark! 
It tarries till the host are all passed o'er, 

Then slowly leaves the stream; 

The friendly waters seem 
Listing till every foot has reached the shore. 

How sweet to live, how safe to die, 
That wondrous ark of God before me passing by I 



154 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

But pause, my soul! and see 

If Israel's God to thee 
Hath not approached in loving-kindness nigher; 

What place like Bethlehem! 

The Saviour's footprints deem 
Steps leading up to God, ascending higher. 

Hast thou forgot Gethsemane? 
The world's four thousand years had not a Calvary. 

How hast thou loved and prayed? 

How feared, adored, obeyed? 
Is God in Christ less than a pillared cloud ? 

Are words he wrote in stone 

More than the Word, his Son ? 
Is not "the living way" the better road? 

Surely, whate'er thine eyes can see 
In Israel's favored lot, falls far this side of thee. 

Awake! awake! my powers. 

And Israel's God and ours 
Love, serve, and worship with a double flame; 

God's ancient methods learn; 

The elder Scripture turn, 
Tracing therein the great Immanuel's name. 

So shall thy worship perfect be, 
And both the Testaments shall shine full orbed o'er thee. 



III. 

CALIFORNIA. THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. HONG KONG. 

Long have they voyaged o'er the distant seas; 

And what a heart-delight they feel at last, 

So many toils, so many dangers past, 

To view the port desired, he only knows 

Who on the stormy deck for many a day 

Hath tossed, a weary of his ocean way, 

And watched, all anxious, every wind that blows. 

SOUTHET. 

jNE day at sundown the captain said 
as he looked at his watch, " At five 
minutes past nine this evening we 
shall see Farralone light." We had altered 
our course several times that day ; the cur- 
rent was strong, the wind was aft, so that 
only one course of sails drew ; therefore we 
paid little attention to the remark, supposing 
it to be a guess, or at best a hope, rather 
than an opinion. 

At nine o'clock p. m. Feb. 11, a man was 
sent aloft to see if there was a lighthouse visi- 
ble. At twenty minutes after nine he called 




156 



Under the Mizzen Mast; 



out, " Light, ho ! three points on the port 
bow." In five or ten minutes we saw it from 
the deck. We felt that this part of the 
voyage was over. We had been to 59° S., 
beiDg live degrees south of Cape Horn, and 
had sailed back to 37° N. and were also now 
far west of Boston. 

We dropped anchor at San Francisco Feb, 
12th, making the voyage in 111 days, one 
day less than the good ship had logged be- 
fore. We took pleasure in reading on shore 
the record which I give below,* 

* Length of passages by merchant vessels from New York to 
San Francisco since May 1, 1870, to Feb. 12, 1871. 



NAME OF VESSEL. 


DAYS, 


NAME OF VESSEL. 


DAYS. 


Pactolus. 


147 


Chieftain. 


160 


Bridgewater. 


149 


Eldorado. 


148 


Thacher Magoun. 


166 


Fleetford. 


161 


Galatea. 


134 


Alaska. 


137 


Orion. 


215 


James R. Keeler. 


147 


Imperial. 


145 


Charger. 


127 


Jeremiah Thompson. 


122 


Dex er. 


163 < 


Great Admiral. 


121 


Daniel Marcy. 


165 


Ellen Austin. 


134 


Horatio Harris. 


165 


Carolus Magnus. 


172 


Hoogly. 


150 


Ericson. 


137 


John Bright. 


147 


Arkwright. 


165 


Blue Jacket. 


146 


Kingfisher. 


. 135 


S. G. Reed. 


137 


Anahuac. 


139 


A=a Eklridge. 


134 


St. James. 


162 


Freeman Clark. 


147 


Ontario. 


158 


Young America. 


122 


Huguenot. 


153 


Emerald Isle. 


127 


Gold Hunter. 


167 


Golden Fleece. 


111 






Privilege of Slotv Motion. 157 

THE PRIVILEGE OF SLOW MOTION. 

One of the San Francisco papers spoke of 
there being two of the pastors of Boston in 
San Francisco, one of whom, a pastor there for 
thirty-five years, had been a hundred and 
eleven days in coming from New York to 
California, while the other, a young man, 
had been only ten days on his way. This 
was true, and it showed what progress had 
been made within a life time in the means 
of intercourse between distant parts of the 
country. 

It is easy, however, to imagine a state of 
things in which it would be a privilege to be 
a hundred and eleven days on the way from 
Boston to San Francisco. If the opportunity 
of navigation were wholly cut cfT and the 
only way of passing from New York to Cali- 
fornia should be to be whirled along^ in ten 
days from point to point, men would say, 
" Alas ! for modern degeneracy. Time was, 



158 Under the Mizzen Ma-st;_ 

within the memory of not a few now living, 
when it was a luxury to travel. You could 
take passage in one of those clippers whose 
names and exploits now seem fabulous, and 
the only memorials of them are paintings and 
photographs on our parlor walls, and in books 
of art ; and in those palaces you could sail 
down one side of the continent, reach Cape 
Horn, go five degrees south of it to make a 
safe run around the great land mark and 
pass up on the other side. Think of the 
privilege of running through the Straits 
of Lemaire, of coming close by the shores of 
Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, of expe- 
riencing those Cape Horn swells, of feeling 
that you were not far from Antartic regions. 
Those were days when life had some romance 
in it. Now you seem to be fired out of a 
field piece ; the next thing will be to creep 
into a pneumatic machine, the air will be ex- 
hausted and in a state of suspended con- 



Privilege of Slow Motion. 159 

sciousuess you will wake from your short 

delirious dream and will be told that you 

have been shot eight thousand miles across 

the continent. Some like this ; annihilate 

> 
time and distance and they ask no more ; for 

our part give us the old ways ; steam is good 

in its place ; but we envy those who could be 

a hundred and eleven days on the water, 

passing from the east to the west." 

SAN FBANCISCO. 

It would be gratifying to indulge in full 
descriptions of San Francisco and the enjoy- 
ment derived from valued friends. In doing 
this, I could most cordially repeat the enthu- 
siastic words of others. Let me give at 
once the scale by which I soon learned to 
measure everything in this wonderful region, 
indicated by some first impressions: 

Before leaving home, an elderly lady told 
me that she had long watched her calla lily, 



160 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

hoping that it would open in time to be pre- 
sented to me before I left home. It came at 
last, perfectly beautiful, such as the stem had 
yielded several times before ; the same silvery 
frost work on its petals, the same odor of 
lemon balm in the calyx. I told the venera- 
ble donor that I believed that the impression 
made by her rare gift, so long and carefully 
watched, a beautiful unit, lovely in its one- 
ness, would have a charm for me which I 
could not suppose would be forgotten in 
more luxuriant climes. My one calla lily 
which had made a last impression upon me 
on leaving home, was brought forcibly to mind 
the morning after my arrival. I was re- 
quested to walk to the window, where I was 
told some favorites of mine were waiting to 
see me. There stood in a border to a flower 
garden, thirty calla lily plants, each plant 
with its lily in perfect growth. There was 
no more spirit in me. Is this the scale by 



Earthquake at San Francisco. 161 

which you excel your friends at the East ? I 
found it to be so. A pleasurable feeling of 
being vanquished came over me. Every 
hour brought its new surprise. I gave up. 
I was in California. 

A day or two after, the seal was set to my 
conviction that I was there. I had the pleas- 
ure of experiencing an earthquake. About 
ten o'clock one fair day, suddenly a noise 
came, such as I never before heard, and a 
motion unlike anything which I had ever felt 
before. It lasted not more than five seconds. 
But Cape Horn did not shake after that pat- 
tern. No description can. convey any idea 
of the feeling excited by it, I turned invol- 
untarily to my door, and, opening it, found 
the family in the entry, brought ther6 in the 
same bewildered state of mind as myself. 
Apprehension of danger soon subsided ; but 
we wished ourselves at sea, in order to be safe. 

The view of the Pacific from the Cliff 
House seemed to me the most interesting of 



162 Under tie Mizzen Mast; 

sea views from shore. In itself, it so im- 
pressed me ; but, added to this, the recollec- 
tion of the great extent of territory of which 
it is a boundary, makes it approach near to 
the sublime. The coast line of California, 
taking in its curves and indentations, it is 
said in an able statistical paper in that 
State, is equal to a straight line drawn from 
San Francisco to Plymouth, Mass. Those 
seals, climbing upon the rocks not many feet 
from you, undisturbed by your presence, giv- 
ing you a new chapter in natural history, 
opening animal life to you as you may not 
have seen it before, remind you that you are 
in a region of the earth far from your home. 
One day in driving we came to a hill which, 
though it was only the fifteenth of March, 
had began to put forth a combination of 
colors so numerous and brilliant as to make 
3 T ou believe at first that they were the work 
of art. A little below, the ground was 
without any sign of spring. A soil which 



San Francisco, 163 

could so quickly feel the sun as to give forth 
its luxuriance profusely, as it were at a clay's 
warning, though lifted but a little above the 
general level, impresses one with its extreme- 
ly sensitive nature, making you ready to be- 
lieve anything which is told you of its fruit- 
fulness. 

So many friends come around you here 
that your home circle seems to have stretched 
its circumference ; for those who dwell under 
these western skies seem to retain their 
native qualities, which make you identify 
them at once as those whom you formerly 
knew and loved. Ties of friendship or 
valued acquaintance draw many to you, in 
connection or association with people whom 
you are glad to recall in the features, the 
voices, of their descendants. The names of 
Oakland and Alameda, and of other places, 
will ever be associated in our minds with 
names and scenes most precious. I left this 



164: Under the Mizzen Mast; 

wonderful region with great love for it, 
deeply impressed with the many valued 
■friends whom I found or made there. 

LEAVING SAN FRANCISCO. 

March 28th. A company of thirty escorted 
us down the harbor, in the tug. Some of 
the gentlemen contrived to get on board the 
Fleece, but to our disappointment the rest of 
the party remained in the tug. The deck of 
the ship being high above the tug, our con- 
versation, with reminiscences, compliments, 
assurances of continual remembrance, mes- 
sages, could not be so sentimental as if con- 
veyed in whispers. As we went down the 
harbor, the swell was great, and we were 
sorry that many of the pleasant faces pre- 
ferred to turn and look from us overboard ; 
whereby our conversation, difficult though it 
had been for some time, was wholly cut off. 
At length the signal was given for parting, 



Sandwich Islands. 4 165 

and the little tug with its company, the most 
of whom we could not expect to see again, 
darted ahead of us ; a cloud of handkerchiefs 
gave us their parting salute, which we con- 
tinued to answer till the tug was lost amid 
the crowd of vessels in the harbor. Soon 
the heavy swell outside admonished us that 
we also were mortal, and we shut ourselves 
from the si^ht of each other. 

THE SANDWICH ISLANDS GROUP. 

We sailed to the Sandwich Islands at the 
request of our agents at San Francisco to 
obtain freight for China. We sailed by the 
whole group, in fine weather. A sudden 
bend in our course brought us at once within 
sight of Honolulu, thirty days from San 
Francisco. After looking at the volcanic 
ridges of the group, precipitous, shapeless, 
barren, the red earth and stones making you 
feel as though they had not wholly cooled, it 



166 tflnder the Mizzen Mast; 

was a pleasing surprise to have this imme- 
diate view of the town, looking as though it 
had always been there, suggesting no signs 
of a feeble settlement making effort to live. 
The church spire, the neat cottages, the signs 
of husbandry, the cattle, the roads traversed 
by handsome horses with good carriages, the 
pendulous waving branches, and the banana, 
softening the sterner features of nature, made 
at once an impression which was prepossess- 
ing. 

We anchored where we were advised by 
the pilot to do so. But we were too near the 
reef to feel safe should we have a gale. The 
wind was blowing so as to make it evidently 
most uncomfortable if not hazardous to land, 
at least for ladies or invalids. The captain 
felt obliged to venture in the native boat, 
which the Hawaian boatmen declared to be 
safe, though the great sail was out of propor- 
tion to the small craft, judged, by our nauti- 



Honolulu seen from the Ship. 167 

cal measurement. We concluded to allow 
him to go ashore as an experiment ; but we 
could more unhesitatingly have insured him 
around Cape Horn in his ship than in that 
boat going through that surf over the bar. 
We watched him gaining on the breakers one 
after another, expecting every moment to see 
him in the waves, till with the spy glass we 
could see that the shore was safely reached. 
He was to send back word whether we might 
venture to take passage in one of the native 
boats, and what length of time his business 
would require him to remain at this port. 
He sent back word that he found no freight ; 
that nothing seemed to warrant our remain- 
ing, that if we came ashore it would be only 
for one hour, it being then not far from sun 
down. We had kind messages from Rev. 
Dr. Judd, who offered to ask Capt. Truxton, 
of the U. S. vessel " Jamestown," to send 
his yawl for us if we would stay. H. M. 



168 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Whitney, Esq., editor of the Honolulu Com- 
mercial, politely sent us an invitation to his 
house during our visit should we come ashore. 
Rev. Hiram Bingham, and S. B. Dole, Esq., 
both sons of missionaries, came off to see us, 
inviting us to a meeting of " Cousins " which 
was to be held that evening. The tempta- 
tion was for every reason very great. We 
had anticipated this visit for a long time ; in- 
deed it had seemed a prominent event of the 
voyage in our anticipation ; it would surely . 
be so in our memories. We could not hope 
to have such an opportunity again to see 
these islands, to have intercourse with these 
missionary friends. But had we any right to 
detain the ship, lying as she must do, close to 
the reef? We saw that, once on shore, the 
inducement to make a tour of several days 
to visit missionary stations, to look upon 
the faces of some whom we remembered as 
having gone from our shores, some whose 



Honolulu. 169 

faces and forms we should find imprinted 
with the signs of honorable service ; and then 
to see that world renowned volcano, the 
scene of that gigantic tidal wave, to observe 
how it lifted itself up, to take its measure- 
ments, to note the way of its fearful retreat, 
all this would be an expenditure of time and 
strength which we did not feel at liberty to 
make. 

Messrs. Bingham and Dole remained on 
board till we weighed anchor. They pro- 
posed that we should sing a hymn : " My 
days are gliding swiftly by ; " our cabinet 
organ joining to leave our notes of worship 
impressed on those beloved shores. Because 
our unseen friends " did not detain us " while 
we were flying from them, we were the more 
affected by the thoughts of them, and by 
imagining the interchange which we should 
have had of profitable conversation. Every- 
thing which we bore away with us deepened 



170 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

our regret at parting. — The attractive style 
in which the Honolulu Advertiser was made 
up and printed, gave me very favorable im- 
pressions of the state of the practical arts in 
Honolulu. For several weeks we were re- 
freshed hy the largest and sweetest oranges 
and the best bananas which I have met with 
in our whole voyage. There is no part of 
the world which I have seen which I would 
sooner revisit, or where I should expect great- 
er enjoyment from very many sources than 
the Sandwich Islands. In a fine moonlight 
Saturday evening we sailed away from this 
most interesting group. 

Of all the bright days which have glad- 
dened our way, none have surpassed those 
which we spent in going from the Sandwich 
Islands to China. Existence was a charm in 
that beautiful climate, that trade-wind region. 
Thirty-three days of perfect weather, one 
succeeding another with seemingly new 




THE BASHEE IMAGE. Page 171. 



Entering the China Sea, 171 

beauty, made us feel that we had left this 
world of storms. If I ever need an emblem 
of perfect peace, the voyage from the Sand- 
wich Islands to China will be sure to revive 
in my memory. 

With new sensations of interest, we 
reached the China Sea. The Bashee group 
of Islands marks one entrance to it from the 
Pacific. We passed close to the island of 
Belintang. Here I had a first imaginary 
glimpse of the heathen world in a singular 
spectacle, which I would have said was an 
illusion had not all whom I asked to notice 
it agreed that it was a remarkable object. 

About sixty feet from the island, in the 
water, stands a high rock, in the shape of a 
flattened ellipse, wholly isolated. Its base 
looks as though it were stuccoed with large 
sea-shells, the grooved side of each facing 
you. One half of the elevation is shapeless, 
but the other half is as good an image of a 
monstrous idol god as can be found. 



172 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

" What seemed a head, 
The likeness of a kingly crown had on," 

or, perhaps, a mitre or a fillet. The eyes are 
like the eyes of a plaster bust, made by two 
protuberances of the rock, volcanic blisters ; 
and over the whole figure seems to be thrown 
a rude drapery, which a little fancy converts 
into a robe. The whole effect is that of a 
huge idol god. There it stands at the gate- 
way of the China Sea ; and, if superstition 
had employed sculptors and architects to set 
up an image of Buddha there, no better result 
could have been achieved. No hand, how- 
ever, founded this on the seas and established 
it on the floods. There is a marine pictur- 
esqueness about the rock as a whole which is 
very fine. I am thus minute in the descrip- 
tion, hoping that some who read these pages 
will, on seeing the Bashee image, make a 
more extended description. 



Pacific and Atlantic compared. 173 

ATLANTIC OCEAN SCENEKY DESIRED. 

The mind soon tires of tranquil scenes. 
On the way from the Sandwich Islands to 
China I had my fill of tranquility. I found 
myself yearning for a gale ; felt great respect 
for the Gulf Stream, with waves as high as 
the main yard ; longed to see breakers ; won- 
dered why the sea would not occasionally 
come over our rail. There seemed to be 
talent about the Rio de la Plata ; Cape Horn 
was true genius ; the North Atlantic a giant 
with a progeny in its own image. The 
halcyon waters of the Pacific impressed me 
as amiable but weak ; their countenance wore 
a perpetual smile; they' looked as though 
they believed themselves to have reached a 
sinless state. You long to see their temper 
tested ; you would be willing to see them 
ruffled, even angry ; hear them lift their 
voice out of its monotony with upbraiding, 
rather than be so unnaturally gentle. Does 



174 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

the sea have waves of mettle which it em- 
ploys in hazardous enterprises, trusting them, 
and only them, in daring feats ? I came to 
feel that there were waters which bore a 
character for hardihood, nurtured by tem- 
pests, voiced for symphonious concerts with 
typhoons, not counting their lives dear ud to 
them but dying on the high places of the 
field. Let me see them once more ! When 
will this trade wind region come to an end, 
and the sea utter its voice and lift up its 
hands on high ? I felt that the sea rever- 
enced greatness, honored its waters which 
stormed impregnable rocks and poured out 
their lives at the call of duty. These lines 
came to me, in this connection : 

ELECT WAVES. 

The sea has gallant troops, adventurous waves ; 
Tell me, intrepid mariner, where are they ? 
Not where the peaceful isles adorn the bay, 
Nor where the tranquil sea a smooth beach laves, 
But where huge billows tunnel giant caves, 
Forcing through spouting horns in myriad showers 



Arrival at Rong Kong, 175 

Enormous breakers which the chafed sea pours 
On sharpened rocks, finding their several graves. 
Or, where a light-house guards the rock-bound coast 
The sea will summon up its fierce brigade 
To quench the lantern, leaping high in air. 
These, not its halcyon waves, it honors most. 
Who moved first on the deep, the Spirit, said, 
" Whom the Lord loves he chastens, nor will spare." 

AEEIVAL AT HONG KONG. YAT MOON PASS. 

The wind did not serve to bring us round 
Great Lema Island. After tacking several 
times, and beating about the headland from 
early in the morning till two o'clock, the 
prospect of our being kept in a dangerous 
position till after sunset, induced the captain 
to venture into Yat Moon Pass, where we 
should have a direct run into Hong Kong 
harbor. 

The pass between Great Lema and Ya 
Chou Island was narrow ; in some parts not 
more than two lengths of the vessel in width. 
A hidden rock in the middle of the narrow 
passage led the captain to deliberate long be- 



176 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

fore he concluded to enter. Finally it 
seemed best to make the venture, rather than 
beat around the point day after day. The 
wind was blowing directly through the pass, 
the weather was fair, a run of half an hour 
would bring us into open sea, beyond the 
reach of danger. Accordingly we entered, 
keeping close to the starboard side, throw- 
ing the lead all the way. The sailors 
amused themselves with trying to throw 
pieces of coal ashore, which now and then 
they succeeded in doing. The captain went 
aloft with his spy glass ; we listened with 
breathless interest to hear the result of his 
observation from step to step, the word 
" steady " every few moments keeping up 
our courage. Everything depended on our 
meeting a favorable wind at the other end. 
Should it be blowing into the pass, or die 
away and leave us becalmed, we should not 
prove to have mended our prospect. We 
gratefully acknowledged the good hand of 



A Chinese Pilot. 177 

God in causing us to find that the wind 
which* brought us through the narrows blew 
in the same direction when we reached the 
open sea. 

Five miles out, two pilots hailed us from 
opposite points, each in his rude sampan, 
their sails of matting and their oars com- 
bining to bring each first to the ship. The 
wind favored one, who came astern and 
caught a rope, which he nimbly climbed and 
came aboard. There was a woman with an 
oar, sculling and steering, while her husband 
and one or two boys and girls managed the 
sails. On her back her infant was strapped, 
a boy sixteen months old, as we were in- 
formed. The little fellow had to endure all 
the motions of his mother at the oar, peeping 
over each of her shoulders by turns, and 
holding her neck with his hands. This, we 
found, is the common mode of life among 
infants here, children eight years old being 



178 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

harnessed to the employment of thus carry- 
ing about their infant brothers and sisters. 
Hong Kong, or Sweet Waters, is an island 
off the coast of China, east of the entrance 
of the Canton river. It came into the pos- 
session of the British by a treaty with China 
June 25, 1843. Its length from east to west 
is eight miles ; its breadth varies from two 
to six miles. The surface is mountainous. 
There are good places of anchorage in its 
waters. Violent winds are frequent. The 
population, which is not far from forty thou- 
sand, is mostly Chinese. It is a free port. 
Among the people in the streets are Parsees 
from Persia, who deal in the productions of 
their country ; and Sepoys from Hindostan, 
and elsewhere. These are police officers and 
soldiers, intensely black, so much so that one 
accustomed to the sight of an African negro 
with a tinge of yellow in his complexion, 
looks at these Sepoys with admiration at the 



Union Church, Hong Kong. 179 

unqualified blackness of their skin. They are, 
moreover, tall, straight, well proportioned 
men. Some of the districts of Hong Kong are 
Stanley, Pokfalum, Aberdeen, Victoria, of 
which the latter is the principal, being the 
seat of government. Victoria Peak, overlook- 
ing the harbor and vicinity, is about eighteen 
hundred feet high. 

We went on shore to church, after our ser- 
vice with the sailors in the morning, and 
attended worship at Rev. Dr. Legge's chapel, 
known as " Union Church." It is a beauti- 
ful building, on an elevated spot, with foliage 
of the bamboo trees around it. Over the 
speaker a punka of blue silk was kept in 
motion by a coolie out of sight, making it 
comfortable for the preacher. Good Dr. 
Duff protested against punkas in the church 
as luxurious and worldly. After being in 
the East India climate a while, he said, " I 
must have a punka over me when I preach 



180 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

here." I preached for Dr. Legge the next 
Sabbath morning, and five or six other times, 
and went ashore again in the afternoon occa- 
sionally to the chapel and once heard the 
Rev. Mr. Turner, a missionary sustained by a 
British society, preach to a congregation of 
Chinese. I was struck with their devout ap- 
pearance in prayer. All was unintelligible 
till the doxology, in Old Hundred. 

English schools for Chinese youth, main- 
tained here by the government, one of them 
with over one hundred and fifty young men, 
taught by Mr. Stuart, I had the pleasure of 
visiting, and was interested to hear the na- 
tive youths read well in English, with little 
Chinese accent. 

One of the boys about fifteen years of age 
was pointed out to me as a Japanese youth. 
The teacher told me that the custom of 
Japan obliged a boy of his rank to wear a 
short sword in public. I saw the sword of 



Life in Hong Kong Harbor. 181 

this youth in his desk, it being laid aside 
in the school room. One could not help 
fancying that such an instrument would not 
generally be a recommendation of the wearer 
as a playmate. 

LIFE IN HONG KONG. 

We found ourselves at once in the centre 
of communication with all parts of the com- 
mercial world on taking our position among 
the shipping in this English free port. We 
continued to live on board the ship, being 
advised by all that we should find it more 
comfortable than on shore. There were at 
least two hundred vessels here, from the four 
quarters of the globe. Their national flags 
were an interesting study. The first even- 
ing of our arrival we manned our boat and 
were rowed round among the steamers and 
principal vessels, going close to those whose 
bands were playing their national airs. 



182 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

CHINESE TRADESMEN. 

It was only a day or two before the arrival 
of our large craft had attracted the swarms of 
the native trades-people. Every forenoon 
for some time our deck was filled with cases 
loaded with carved ivory, sandal wood 
work, jewelry, fans, curious boxes, shawls 
and scarfs of India work, with articles of 
wearing apparel, both useful and ornamental. 
The pilot whom we took at the end of Yat 
Moon Pass, a native Chinaman, had given us 
our first lesson in pidgin English ; for by 
noticing his use of our language and copying 
his forms of expression, we soon found our- 
selves able to make ourselves understood. 
We were instructed by friendly visitors to be 
on our guard against paying anything near 
the price demanded for an article by these 
hucksters. Their effrontery in demanding 
enormous sums for trifles became a constant 
source of amusement. For example : One 
of our company would hold up a Japanese 



Chinese Trades-people, 183 

bamboo watch, chain and say, " How muchee 
pricee?" "Half dollar." "No; my no 
can do ; that belong too muchee pricee." 
" No, no, not too muchee ; that very fine ; 
that belong number one thing," But the 
purchaser lays it down, and resumes a book 
or work. The tradesman waits and finally 
says, " Well, how muchee you pay ? " " One 
quarter." He gives an expression of con- 
tempt, pretends to pack up his things in 
haste, but keeps an eye on the customer to 
see some sign of relenting, and at last in 
despair comes with the chain, saying, " Here, 
you take; give me one quart;" — which is 
much nearer the real worth. 

CHINESE DEESSMAKER. 

It became necessary soon after our arrival 
for some of our number to employ a dress- 
maker, and one was recommended who visited 
ships where there were ladies on board. His 
features were far from masculine ; his prices, 



184 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

thirty-five cents a day, was in correspond- 
ence ; his thimble was on his thumb, his 
motion in sewing seemed to be that of 
pushing more than of pulling ; his progress 
slow, all day being spent on something which 
ordinarily was done at home, it was said, in 
two or three hours. 

NATIONAL SHIPS, 

We were invited to breakfast at the reason- 
able hour of nine, on board the Pacific Mail 
Steamer, to tea on board the " Great North- 
ern," and to examine her telegraphic appara- 
tus and the arrangements for laying the sub- 
marine cable between Hong Kong and Shang- 
hai. We were handsomely entertained on 
board the " Delaware," " Colorado," " Ashue- 
lot," U. S. vessels, and we became acquainted 
with the routine of service on board such 
vessels. The commander and scientific men 
in these ships contributed greatly to our 
pleasure. 



On Shore at Hong Kong. 185 

HONG KONG SOCIETY. 

We formed, the acquaintance of interest- 
ing families on shore, from whom we received 
gratifying attentions, enjoyed their hospital- 
ity, were entertained at their croquet parties, 
some of which were held in high places, on 
the side of the hill which forms the chief 
eminence of Hong Kong, affording a pictur- 
esque view of the shipping in the harbor. 
It would be difficult to name any place, 
where friends assemble to enjoy out-of door 
sports, more animating than the heights of 
Hong Kong, commanding views of the ocean 
in every direction, the sea breeze invigorat- 
ing the spirits which have felt the heat of the 
town several hundred feet below. 

VICTORIA PEAK. 

A principal source of enjoyment in this in- 
teresting spot is in going up Victoria Peak. 
You take a sedan chair at the landing, four 



186 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

coolies to each chair, two dollars for each 
chair. The men bear you cheerfully along 
up hill, three or four miles, stopping to rest 
two or three times when they come to shady 
places by the side of a great rock, or with 
fine sea views in prospect, till you reach the 
summit, where stands a flag staff, to signalize 
to the town below the arrival of vessels, a 
nine pounder being run out to announce a mail 
steamer, or distinguished vessels. Going up 
you are an hour and a half, unless you pause 
frequently to look at geological or mineralogi- 
cal curiosities. You feel unwilling to quit 
the enchanted spot, the sea breeze, the newly 
arrived ship, the wonderful expanse of ocean 
on every side ; till the lengthening shadows 
admonish you that it will be dark before you 
reach China town. After that, you take 
your boat in which your oarsmen from the 
ship a half a mile off have come for you, and 
you reach your floating habitation after dark. 



Shopping at Hong Kong, 187 

SHOPPING. 

Going ashore to do shopping, you en- 
counter a crowd of chair coolies at the land- 
ing, calling to you, pushing each other, con- 
tending for your custom, " Here, Missy, 
you come this side ; you belong my ; my 
have you last time ; " till you select a chair, 
when the rest subside, or a sepoy comes and 
silences them with blows from his billy, 
which are administered freely. If the two 
men who carry you do not go fast enough, 
you call out, " Chop chop ; " if too fast, 
" Man man," till you get to the store. 

Some of the answers from the shop-keepers 
to your questions are, " Have got ; " "no 
can do ; " " Melican like man like this ;" " no 
have got ; " " him makee Japan ; " " he no 
sandal wood ; cedar wood, sandal wood oil." 

Asking for some music paper I was told, 
" no got ; my makee you some." A sheet 
of blank paper was spread on the counter, a 



188 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

ruler which moved on rollers was laid on it, 
a plate partly filled with india ink was drawn 
within reach, a camel's hair paint brush in- 
stead of a pen, drew the lines. Much of the 
work you could not distinguish from music- 
paper ruled by machine ; the distances of 
some of the staves from each other were not 
regular ; but the lines of each staff were 
remarkably even. A half quire was ready 
the next day. The shop-keepers add up the 
amount of your purchases on frames, such as 
we see in our primary schools ; but the sys- 
tem of numeration I could not understand, 
the attempted explanation being in confused 
pidgin English. 

REGATTA IN HONG KONG HARBOR. 

It was a merry sight on the 15th of 
November 1870, when boats of all descriptions 
were gathered for a race, and nine yachts. 
The shipping, with which the harbor was 
well filled, was ordered to change moorings, 



Regatta at Song Kong. 180 

and make a clear passage for the boats. An 
Order of Exercise was printed for each of 
the two days, giving information of the names 
of the Patrons, Committee, Stewards, Judge, 
Umpire, Starters. The Band of Her Majesty's 
29th Regiment played, the names of the 
pieces being duly entered on the handsome 
programme. Single pair sculling boats, to be 
competed in by men who have never won 
a sculling race in China or elsewhere ; boats 
pulled by Non-commissioned officers and men 
of any Regiment or Corps in Garrison, men 
of war Gigs, Pair Oars, and two Pair Scull- 
ing Boats, House Boats pulled by Chinamen, 
Gig and Punt Chase, Canoes ; all open boats, 
Chinese excepted ; yachts not exceeding 
fifteen tons measurement ; the Chinaman's 
Cup, The American Cup, presented by the 
American Community, The United Service 
Cup, The Canton Cup, presented by the 
Canton Regatta Club, made up the attrac- 



190 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

tive programme. Some lady recently arrived 
is chosen to present the prize to one of the 
winning competitors, with a little speech pre- 
pared for her. The honor fell that year to 
one of our company. The yacht prize was 
won by the Naiad, belonging to R. F. Hawke, 
Esq., an honorable citizen of Hong Kong. 
A sailing match from Hong Kong to Macao 
was advertised to come off the same season. 

COMFORTABLE BEDDING. 

As you pass through the apartments of 
some of the dwellings in Hong Kong, you 
notice that bedsteads and beds are arranged 
for comfort in a hot climate. No blankets 
nor even sheets are visible. The bed is cov- 
ered with bamboo matting, smooth and cool. 
Bajous and Pajamas, (loose jackets and pants,) 
of cotton, linen, silk, or bamboo cloth, are 
all the covering which is necessary, in the 
hottest nights. But the greatest luxury is 



Strange Marine Accident. 191 

the cool pillow. A strip of bamboo cloth 
tied round a pillow, no sewing necessary 
except of tapes to fasten it, keeps the head 
cool. 

A SUNKEN VESSEL. 

While we were at Hong Kong, a fine 
English ship came in and ran directly upon a 
point of the shore in full sight of the ship- 
ping. She sank in the water deep enough 
to cover all but a few feet of her masts. 
Some of the cargo was recovered; the ves- 
sel was a total loss. No blame was attached 
to the captain. Had there been a design to 
throw the vessel away, it could not have 
been done with greater safety to all on 
board ; but the three masts of the sunken 
Dunmail, probably standing yet in Hong 
Kong harbor, are a warning against the least 
presumption in the very moment of apparent 
safety. 



192 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

LOW ESTIMATE OF LIFE AMONG CHINESE. 

Some of us called at the American Consul- 
ate on the Fourth of July, to pay our re- 
spects to the American Consul. One of the 
young men present mentioned this incident : 
He saw from his window a Chinaman with 
a vase of water on his head. He himself 
showed a reckless disregard of human life, 
in proposing to try his pistol on the vase. 
The bullet grazed the Chinaman's heel. 
The young man was arrested, but the prose- 
cution was withdrawn, on the plaintiff's rep- 
resentation that satisfaction had been made. 
The satisfaction consisted in the proposition 
of the Chinaman to settle for one dollar, 
which the young man willingly paid. Where- 
upon another Chinaman came forward and 
offered to stand lire for one dollar.— The out- 
rage on the French Catholics at Tientsin, 
thirteen of whom were murdered, was atoned 
for in part by the authorities, by putting to 



Rev. Br. Legge. 193 

death thirteen of .their countrymen. Thir- 
teen of the assassins were not to be found, 
so the authorities hired men to take their 
places, which they did for five hundred dol- 
lars each. The papers of the day repre- 
sented the volunteers as saying that hy their 
death they should earn money for their 
families, whom otherwise they should leave 
in poverty. One needs to live among such 
people, if he would understand the deg- 
radation to which heathenism can debase 
mankind so far as to make them capable of 
such a deed. Robbery of the dwelling, 
money from clothing laid aside at night, and 
articles of jewelry is of consant occurrence. 

REV. JAMES LEGGE, D. D. L.L. D. 

I spent a fortnight at the house of R. F. 
Hawke, Esq., whose father-in-law, the Rev. 
Dr. Legge, the eminent Chinese scholar, 
was engaged on his five or six large volumes 



194 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

of the Chinese classics. The Doctor is not 
impressed with the intellectual ability of 
of Confucius nor of his followers. His 
translations are invaluable, as saving mis- 
sionaries and other students of the Chinese 
much pains by placing Chinese literature be- 
fore them in a digested form. Ooe could 
not help regrettiug that this laborious scholar 
cannot have the advantage of an interna- 
tional copyright law to afford protection 
to his costly fruits of research. American 
authors suffer the same loss, however, as he, 
in seeing their valuable works appropriated 
by foreigners. 

PACIFIC MAIL STEAMER. 

It was with a feeling of national pride that 
we repeatedly saw the Pacific Mail Com- 
pany's steamer " China," Capt. Doane, thirty 
days from San Francisco, come into the har- 
bor promptly on the day she was due. She 
is a noble ship of four thousand tons. Capt. 



Grateful Detention in China. 195 

Doane came on board our ship, and invited 
us to inspect his vessel. It is one of the 
principal events of the month with Ameri- 
cans to have the Pacific Mail Steamers ap- 
pear. All other steamers seem diminutive 
by the side of them. It seemed strange to 
find on board these vessels five or six live 
oxen and the appurtenances of a slaughter- 
house, bestowed, however, out of sight. 

We stayed in Hong Kong six months wait- 
ing for hemp to fall in Manila. While the 
ship lay at anchor we enjoyed the privilege, 
by the favor of Messrs. Augustine Heard & 
Co., of visiting several places in China and 
the East Indies. 



IV. 



CANTON, SHANGHAI, SINGAPORE, MACAO. 

This is a traveller, sir ; knows men and 
Manners, and has ploughed up the sea so far 
Till both the poles have knocked ; has seen the sun 
Take coach, and can distinguish the color 
Of his horses and their kind. 

Beaumont and Fletcher's " Scornful Lady." 

h HE city of Canton is only eight hours 
by steamer from Hong Kong. Ar- 
riving in the Canton river you find 
yourself in a floating population in boats, 
close together, as though ground rents were 
as dear as in Broadway. When you enter a 
boat for a passage up the river you marvel 
that the boat can extricate itself from the 
snarl ; but you are in a few moments on your 
way, meeting a seemingly endless throng of 
people, among whom you involuntarily close 

196 




Curiosities of Canton. 197 

your eyes as if in anticipation of a crash. 
We were the guests of the Rev. Dr. Happer 
of the American Presbyterian Mission, who 
on our arrival at Hong Kong had kindly sent 
and invited us. We were also entertained 
by the other members of the Mission, Messrs. 
Noyes, Marcellus, and McChesney. We 
visited Dr, Ker's Hospital. Over a hundred 
Chinese were sitting in a commodious room 
listening to a native evangelist, and going 
out by tens to receive medical treatment. 
This hospital was formerly sustained by the 
American Board of Foreign Missions, with 
Dr. Peter Parker for surgeon and physician. 
Being introduced to Archdeacon Gray, he 
very kindly went with us two afternoons 
among the temples and many remarkable 
places. We saw the temple in which are 
five hundred bronzed images of gods or dei- 
fied men, each in a posture or holding an 
emblem representing some action or attri- 



198 Under tie Wizzen Mast; 

bute. We saw the water-clock made by 
tubs of water placed one above another, each 
dripping into the one below it, and the low- 
est holding a graduated stick which rose 
through a hole in the lid, and as each hour- 
mark on the stick appears through the hole, 
a man goes up to the roof with a painted 
sign announcing to the people the time of 
day. This seems to be an heirloom from 
past ages when the " Clepsydra " was in use, 
of which this is a specimen. Adherence to 
this useless thing is one illustration of the 
Chinese attachment to antiquity. As you go 
about the city, you see things which carry 
you back two thousand years, oxen treading 
clay, men sifting wheat in sieves fastened 
on the ends of planks laid on rolling stones, 
and a man standing on each and keeping up 
a motion on the planks like " tilting," or 
" seesaw," a laborious process of doing a 
simple thing. Then you see works of art 



Chinese Eating Rouse. 199 

surpassing modern western skill ; as, for ex- 
ample, an elephant's tusk undergoing three 
years of carving; price, one hundred and 
fifty dollars. Then you visit an eating- 
house, which Archdeacon Gray begs you to 
endure, to know that some things related of 
the Chinese are not fictions. He goes to a 
man who is eating, and courteously taking 
up his plate, says, " What is this ? " The 
man laughs and says, "Rat." He goes to 
another, and, taking his plate, says, " What 
is this ? " The man cheerfully replies, " Black 
cat." Another man says, " Dog." Around 
the room, on hooks, are evident signs that 
the men were truthful. You make swift re- 
treat, but are constrained by your guide to 
look into an opium shop, where the customer, 
as he comes in, mounts a table, lies at full 
length, with his head on a wicker pillow 
hollowed in the middle to fit the neck, then 
is furnished with a pipe and lamp and box of 



200. Tinder tie Mzzen Mast; 

opium, v/hich he smokes till he is stupefied. 
Emerging from such scenes of degradation 
into the narrow street, ten feet wide, you 
may see a woman at a door with a child three 
years old, with whom she is playing " pease 
porridge hot," going through the motions 
as we learned them in childhood ; and you 
wonder whether Mother Goose derived her 
knowledge from the disciples of Confucius, 
or whether she did actually live and die, as 
is now asserted, in Howe Street, Boston. 
This Chinese woman and her child playing 
at " pease porridge hot," is one of those 
touches of nature which make " all the world 
akin." You next reach a place where intel- 
lectual competition throws some of our uni- 
versity feats into the shade. 

HALL OF COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION. 

One is in each of the eighteen provincial 
cities of China. Though familiar by descrip- 
tion, perhaps, to the reader, I venture to re- 



Competitive Examination. 201 

peat that it is a large open ground, — the 
one in Canton measuring 689,250 square 
feet. On one hand, there are seventy-five 
lanes containing 4,767 cells; on the other, 
sixty-eight lanes with 3,886 cells, making a 
total of 8,653 cells. Once in three years 
men of every age, from the youth to the 
aged, assemble to write prize essays for a 
literary degree. A candidate is fastened into 
each cell for three days and nights, with rice 
and water, planks being fixed in grooves in 
the sides of the cell, serving for a sleeping 
place, and for a writing-table by day. The 
strictest search is made to see that no book 
or paper is secreted in any dress. The essays 
are received by three officers, who seal up 
the outside page of each essay on which is 
written the name, age, residence, ancestors, 
&c, of the writer. They are passed to 
another officer who sees that they are copied 
in red ink, the object of the copying being 



202 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

that the original handwriting may not be 
recognized by the judges. Nearly two thou- 
sand writers are employed in copying. They 
have rooms fitted up for them in the " Hall 
of Perfect Honesty." The governor of the 
province is ex-officio chief superintendent. 
Imperial commissioners from Pekin assist in 
the examinations. They meet in the " Hall 
of Auspicious Stars." This hall is looked 
upon with feelings of awe. Success in these 
examinations is followed by fame, wealth, 
and honor ; and failure, by years of toil and 
possibly of repeated disappointment. Mes- 
sengers wait to carry the names of the suc- 
cessful candidates to every part of the pro- 
vince. The governor gives them a feast ; 
after which they go in state dress to worship 
the tablets of their ancestors. Odes as well 
as essays are presented. The following are 
specimens of the themes at the last examina- 
tion previous to 1870 : — - 



Chinese lhemes. 203 

" If the will be set on virtue, there will be 
no practice of wickedness." 

" It is only the individual possessed of the 
most entire sincerity that can exist under 
heaven, who can adjust the great, invariable 
interests of mankind." 

"There are ministers who seek the tran- 
quillity of the state, and find their pleasure 
in securing that tranquillity." 

What can be more abstruse ? Few among 
us would attempt to be original on such 
themes. 

This system of competitive literary exam- 
inations here described has been maintained 
more than a thousand years. There are 
records proving this. On the first day three 
essays and one piece of poetry are required ; 
each essay must have seven hundred words, 
the poetry must consist of seven hundred 
and sixteen lines, with five words in each. 
The pieces required on the other two days 



204 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

vary from this. The successful competitors 
are immortalized in fame ; their triumph goes 
down to posterity on the family tablets, is 
noted on their tombs, secures honor to their 
children. 

Though I visited this "Hall" with Arch- 
deacon Gray, and received minute informa- 
tion from him, I am since indebted for helps 
to my memory to a paper read before a liter- 
ary society in Canton, by Dr. J. G. Ker. 

CHINESE BRIDES AND VTEDDINGS. 

One morning some of my party were 
standing by the window of a friend's house 
in Canton which overlooks the canal with its 
brown water and crowd of sampans. As they 
watched the different phases of domestic life 
in those habitations, one of the party, familiar 
with them, remarked that there was probacy 
a wedding, or rather the festivities attendant 
upon a wedding, in one of the nearest sain- 



Chinese Wedding Reception. 205 

pans, as she had heard a young woman wail- 
ing the night before. She said it is a custom 
with Chinese brides to pass the night before 
their weddings in bewailing their future 
troubles ; for as they seldom see their in- 
tended masters before the wedding, there is 
great uncertainty in connection with their 
new mode of life ; generally it is going from 
one form of servitude into one to which they 
had not grown accustomed. There seems to 
be no real wedding ceremony, but a feast and 
a sort of reception for three days. During 
that time the young couple perform some 
acts of devotion before the ancestral tablets. 
After that the bridegroom takes his partner 
to his father's boat, where she cooks the rice, 
scrubs, and helps row for the rest of her life. 
The young ladies thought that they would 
go to the reception. Accordingly, eight of 
them crowded into the sampan (being told 
that no cards were used) and sat in Turkish 



20b* Under the Mizzen Mast; 

fashion en the nice floor. The bride came 
before them in a red dress, saluted them, 
then brought in a tray of square cakes, 
which had been made with peanut oil. She 
then gave them tea in small cups such as 
children play with. They considered that 
as the tea was made with the foul water of 
the canal occupied by a crowd of sampans, it 
could not be in the highest degree tasteful. 
As they went out they were told that the 
adjoining boat was the home of the bride- 
groom's father, where the bride would the 
next day find her home. A roasted pig with 
its garniture of herbs was exposed on deck, 
but it did not awaken any desire. 
"GODS MANY." 
We were greatly favored, through the in- 
fluence of Archdeacon Gray, in having the 
rare privilege of being admitted to the bed- 
chamber of " the god of Walled Cities." 
We climbed up antique, decayed stairs, into a 



The God of Walled Cities. 207 

forlorn room, not so inviting as apartments in 
some barns at home. There was the huge 
. god, six feet in height ; his slippers were at 
the side of his bed ; his garments were on 
pegs ; the wash-stand was there, with its fur- 
niture, and the water was poured into the 
bowl ready for use. His Majesty was of 
wood, fantastically painted. We were taken 
into his wife's apartment, which was the 
next room. There women resort to make 
petitions with vows, promising the goddess 
a new dress, for example, if their prayer is 
heard. 

In several temples we saw men consulting 
the gods in some affairs of interest to them. 
Kneeling and touching the ground with the 
forehead nine times, they would then take a 
long box of sticks, each with a number in- 
scribed on it, shake it till a stick fell out, 
which was then handed to the priest, who 
consulted a book, and told the petitioner the 
answer to his prayer. 



208 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

We came in one temple to the " Chamber 
of Horrors. " There in ten cells were de- 
picted the torments awaiting the wicked in 
the nest world. In the tenth the victims 
were coming out in the shape of hideous 
wild animals, the blessed dead on eminences 
around looking down with various expres- 
sions on their faces. We came also to the 
" Temple of the Five Genii," — Fire, Earth, 
Water, Wood, and Metals. These Genii 
originally came to the city on five rams, 
which were turned to stone, for perpetuity, 
and remain there to this day, uncouth, almost 
shapeless blocks. A tower, said to be six 
hundred years old, stands in honor of them. 
The large bell covered with Chinese charac- 
ters is doomed to silence ; for there is a 
tradition that if struck, some great misfor- 
tune would fall upon the city. A visitor 
inadvertently striking it would excite con- 
sternation among the people. . During a siege 



Buddhist Priests and the Sunshades. 209 

of Canton a piece of the bell was knocked 
out of it by a cannon-ball. 

While we were detained in a temple by 
rain, the Buddhist priests showed us much 
kindness, setting a table in the courtyard 
overlooking a sheet of water, and giving us 
clear tea in little cups, on trays having each 
compartments rilled with dried fruits. It 
seemed strange to be " sitting at meat in an 
idol's temple." While we were there, the 
priests descried the sunshades which some of 
the party had brought with them. Their 
amusement was not exceeded by any pleasure 
manifested by children at the sight of new 
things. They opened them, they shut them, 
turned them over and over, held them over 
one another, explaining to each other their 
use ; and one man, pointing to one of our 
umbrellas, said, " That I can understand ; 
but is this really an umbrella ? " 

As our party of four emerged from their 



210 Under the Mkzen Mast; 

chairs at each temple, crowds of a hundred 
or more would follow us to the gate, and 
wait there for us to re-appear. Mothers 
would lift little children to see the odd 
foreigners. Not one word, sign, or look of . 
contempt or disrespect, however, did we wit- 
ness during the four or five days that we 
spent in the city. The streets being, most 
of them, only eight or ten feet wide, the 
people were frequently stopped by our 
chairs, and had to stand sideways to let us 
pass, but never did they make us feel that 
we were intruders. About two months after 
this, the affair at Tientsin happened, and the 
people in many parts of the empire were 
excited to some degree against foreigners. 
Eeceiving an invitation to re-visit Canton, I 
was strongly advised not to go, on the ground 
that, while mercantile men, obviously on 
business, might visit the place in safety, the 
sight of a foreigner, led there by curiosity, 
might awaken suspicion and lead to violence. 






Uses of the Bamboo. 211 

THE BAMBOO. 

I saw in Canton a large granite building 
erecting, already two-thirds of its intended 
height reached and covering a large space, the 
staging of which was composed wholly of 
bamboo. It is doubtful if there was a nail 
used in the whole of it, the parts being 
securely fastened with osiers of rattan. It 
brought to mind the provision so beneficently 
made for the use of man in these countries 
where timber is seldom found. Few things, 
if any, serve such a variety of purposes as 
the bamboo. Bridges are built of it ; it is 
used for water pipes, masts, boxes, cups, bas- 
kets, mats, paper, fences, writing instruments ; 
while the long green leaves afford shade. It 
grows from fifty to eighty feet in a year, and 
in a second year becomes as hard as ever. 
One who is curious in botanical formations 
cannot but have admired the provision made 



212 Under the.Mizzen Blast ; 

for strengthening the stalk of straw by the 
joints, which occur at a distance of a few 
inches ; an arrangement which must puzzle 
an atheist. In the joints of the bamboo lie 
the hiding of its power. The joints being 
easily made water tight, the canes are 
adapted to use in many ways. One cannot 
live in an eastern country without soon 
forming * an attachment to this product of' 
nature so wonderfully supplying many of 
the necessities of life. 

MIXTURE IN TEAS. 

• As we were passing along a street in Can- 
ton, a gentleman, long a resident there, sud- 
denly stopped and pointed to a large quan- 
tity of an herb, spread in the sun. " That," 
said he, "is jasmine, which is one of the 
principal ingredients used to give your teas 
a flavor." But I will not venture further on 
this topic, only observing that one of our 



Archdeacon Gray, 213 

party who took tea with us in the idol's tem- 
ple, (tea without sugar and cream,) testified 
that there was an aroma about it to which 
exported teas were strangers. 

ARCHDEACON GRAY 

Archdeacon Gray is well known to all who 
have visited Canton. He is in the prime of 
life, an accomplished gentleman, making you 
love him at once by his beautifully courteous 
manners, his fine intelligence. He gave me 
a cordial invitation to occupy his pulpit on 
Sabbath morning ; but there was to be a com- 
munion service at the Presbyterian Mission, 
with some additions to the church, and I de- 
clined. But he came in the intermission and 
insisted on my preaching in the afternoon, 
which I did. His house and church are on a 
bend of the Canton River ; and perhaps even 
our Hudson River does not anywhere present 
a finer view. His house is full of rare Chi- 
nese curiosities, which he is happy to show 



214 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

to visitors. I preached in the evening to the 
Presbyterian Mission, at the house of one of 
their number. This Mission is exerting a 
decided influence ; its supporters may well be 
encouraged. I found a strong feeling among 
them in favor of sending out single ladies, in 
companies, to live together and to labor in 
conjunction with the Mission. There is a 
decided approbation in the Canton Mission 
of ladies thus living together, and working 
under the direction of a mission. 

SHANGHAI. 

I spent four or five days at Shanghai, on 
another excursion from Hong Kong. This 
I described in a letter to Bishop Eastburn, as 
several things which I saw there in connec- 
tion with Episcopal friends made it agreeable 
to acquaint him with them. The letter was 
kindly published in " The Christian Wit- 
ness " of this city, and copied by " the Bos- 



Letter to Bishop Eastbum. 215 

ton Transcript." I take this opportunity to 
insert the most of that letter, from one of 
the papers above mentioned. 

Hong Kong, China, October 10, 1870. 

My dear Bishop Eastbhrn, — I shall 
not soon forget that the first letter which 
met my eye on reaching San Francisco, after 
a voyage of one hundred and eleven days, 
was in your handwriting. I have since then 
been so pleasantly reminded of you through 
a good man's influence here in China that I 
must tell you of it. Being on a visit to 
Shanghai, I was invited to attend worship in 
a Chinese chapel five miles from the city. 
We went through the fields in chairs borne 
by coolies, till we came to the village where 
trade was plying all its arts, and handicraft 
its implements, unconscious of the Sabbath. 
A small church-bell notified us that we were 
near the chapel ; and soon we emerged from 
heathenish sounds and sights into a christian 



216 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

temple, neat and orderly in all its appoint- 
ments. There were about one hundred and 
fifty Chinese assembled for worship, which 
was conducted by a very good looking China- 
man, tall, and of pleasing address. Though 
ignorant of every word he said, my attention 
was riveted by his agreeable action and man- 
ner, eminently becoming a preacher of the 
gospel and withal eloquent, if his whole ap- 
pearance and the attention of the people 
were true indications. I could see that the 
services were liturgical from the responses, 
and from the Chinese books used by the 
people, the little girls around me keeping my 
attention directed to the place in the service ; 
though very little good did this do me, ex- 
cept that it helped me to keep my book 
right side up. The service ended with sing- 
ing, " There is a happy land," the tune so 
familiarly known in our Sabbath schools. 
The preacher came to speak with me before 



William AppletorCs Shanghai Chapel. 217 

service, with his welcome in very good 
English ; and after service he came again and 
gave me much information. He has been 
rector there sixteen years, the chapel being 
built and he being sustained there by the 
munificence, said he, " of a Mr. William Ap- 
pleton, of Boston." This made my heart 
leap for joy, to come so far into heathenism 
and find myself in a christian temple erected 
and maintained by a fellow-citizen of Boston. 
Mr. Appleton I did not know personally, 
though I once received a very kind note 
from him with a pamphlet. But I had long 
cherished a sincere love for him from many 
impressions of his truly estimable character. 
I was led to think, What a memorial of chris- 
tian zeal has he built in this distant land ! 
What pleasure it must afford his happy spirit 
in heaven to look down on this place of chris- 
tian worship in the depths of heathenism ! 
What a noble use of wealth, blessing a mul- 



218 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

titude of people who but for hiin might have 
been left in heathenish ignorance ! I told 
the preacher that I should report his chapel 
and his labors to christian friends at home, 
and I mentioned your name in speaking of 
those who would be glad to hear of him. 
He desired me to give his respects to you ; 
so it is my pleasure to send you the respect- 
ful and christian salutation of the Reverend 
Wong Kwong Chi, of one of the villages of 
Shanghai. 

As we came out of the chapel, our ears 
were saluted with some musical instruments 
from a house where people were making a 
tumult over a dead person. Little knew they 
of that " happy land, far, far away:" which 
the people of Appleton Chapel had just been 
celebrating. I felt a desire to tell good men 
in Boston that there yet remaineth much land 
to be possessed here by christian philanthro- 
pists ; that they can readily find villages of 



William AppletorJs Shanghai Chapel. 219 

sixty thousand waiting each for its chapel, to 
say nothing of cities with millions in them, 
where it would be easy to begin a work for 
the ransomed spirits of good men and women 
to review with pleasure in heaven. Truly 
enviable is that rich christian who can em- 
ploy wealth to do good for him when he is 
with Christ. The Appleton Chapel at 
Shanghai seemed to me a cup of cold water, 
the donor of which is not losing his reward. 
From the steamboat-landing at Shanghai, 
looking across the river, you see a comely 
church of fair proportions, surrounded in 
part with banyan and bamboo trees, affording 
it a perpetually verdant appearance. It is a 
stone chapel for seamen, built through the 
efforts of A. A. Hayes, Jr., of the firm of 
Olyphant & Co., and son of Dr. A. A. 
Hayes, of Boston. It is under the care of 
the Rev. Mr. Syle, Presbyterian, a devoted 
and most useful man. A large churchyard 



220 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

has there received the remains of seamen of 
all nations. It is within the same enclosure 
with the church, ornamented with plants and 
trees, and is nearly filled with the dead. It 
has been opened fourteen years, and there 
are fourteen hundred interments. The graves 
are in close and even rows for economy of 
rooms, so that this large collection of the 
dead looks like a buried battalion who have 
lain down by platoons. The orderly disposal 
of them has a saddening influence. I never 
before felt that there is a natural appropriate- 
ness in having a burial-place, as Job says of 
the land of the departed, " a land without 
any order." We feel that promptitude and 
exactness are out of place at a funeral ; but 
slowness and delay are congenial. Surely, 
these ranks of the dead will not rise by roll- 
call, though they lay down in such good 
order. They made me think of some lines 
of an uncle of Sir Walter Scott, a sea-cap- 



Macao. 221 

tain, on a sunken man-of-war, all n^r crew on 
board : ■ — 

1 In death's dark road at anchor fast they stay, 

Till Heaven's loud signal shall in thunder roar; 
Then, starting up, all hands shall quick obey; 

Sheet home the topsail, and with speed unmoor.' " * 
* * * ***** 

MACAO. 

One of the most charming places in China, 
is Macao, three hours distant by steamer from 
Hong Kong, the people of which place resort 
to Macao in the hot season, as the fine sea- 
breezes there greatly mitigate the heat. The 
drives about the place, commanding in every 
direction an open sea-view, are beautiful. 



* I may as well give here all the lines of the "old tar," 
relating to the shipwreck: — 

No more the geese shall cackle o'er the poop ; 

No more the bagpipe through the orlop sound; 
No more the midshipmen, a jovial group, 

Shall toast the girls, and push the bottle round. 

In death's dark road at anchor fast they stay, 
Till Heaven's loud signal shall in thunder roar; 

Then, starting up, all hands shall quick obey ; 
Sheet home the topsail, and with speed unmoor. 

I 



222 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

The old church of St. Paul, the most of which 
remains, though ruined by fire, is a fine speci- 
men of architecture. The most notable thing 
in Macao is the grotto where - Camoens, the 
Portuguese poet, died in banishment for pub- 
lishing a satire on the viceroy. The wild bot- 
any of the place, and the geological upheavals 
which give clear signs of glacial action, are 
remarkable. Bowlders are piled up here in 
ways which show a hydrodynamic force be- 
yond human skill. Near the grotto is a ceme- 
tery for foreigners ; and, among the many 
sainted dead from missionary circles there 
entombed, the christian traveller lingers with 
deep interest around the burial-place of 
Morrison. 

One Sabbath morning I went with a chris- 
tian friend through a wild district, in the 
neighborhood of a large city in China, to a 
mission station. The people were every- 
where at work ; nothing suggested the Sab- 



A Sabbath in Heathen Wilds. 223 

bath, till we heard the little church-bell, 
whose notes were in pleasing contrast to the 
hum of business. We came to the mission 
compound, where two missionaries and their 
wives had their abode. The joy with which 
they welcomed us made us feel most deeply 
their isolation from christian society. The 
sight of friends from .America seemed to 
intensify their loneliness. Here were four 
beloved christian people who were living in 
these wilds, to teach these heathen tribes the 
knowledge of God and of his Son. On in- 
quiring what encouragement they found in 
their work, we were told that two or three 
women had lately shown a disposition to 
hear religious conversation, and listen to the 
Scriptures. Immediately we thought of four 
hundred millions in China and its depend- 
encies, who were ignorant of the true God. 
Here were three native women who were per- 
suaded to listen to religious reading. As we 



224 Under the Mizzen Mast : 

were preparing to leave, our missionary 
friends seemed to cling to us with strong- 
affection. We were going back to America, 
leaving them in the solitudes of heathenism. 
They were far from unhappy, and their few 
tears were only the natural expression of 
awakened memories. One of the missionary 
brethren, showing us the way to the gate, 
passed with us through a room where we 
saw, among gardening tools, some sheets of 
paper, lying loose. There were so many of 
them, looking alike, that they attracted our 
notice. We found that the specks on them 
were the eggs of silkworms. They were 
mere dots, as the reader familiar with the 
sight in books or nature, is aware. It oc- 
curred to me what a display of silk fabrics, 
with their rainbow colors, we had been look- 
ing upon ! how many ships are freighted 
with them ! how many millions of wealth 
they represent ! what a world of thought and 



Lessons from Silk Worms' Eggs. 225 

feeling is associated with them ! On those 
pieces of paper were the beginnings of silk, — 
a word, taken in all its connections and asso- 
ciations, of mighty power. In those little 
specks one might fancy himself reading, " By 
whom shall Jacob arise ? for he is small." 
We told our missionary brother that, while 
he raised silkworms and saw their cocoons, 
he surely would never despise the day of 
small things, — a lesson, he assured us, which 
was often repeated to him, and gave him 
encouragement. 

It is well for one who believes in the ulti 
mate prevalence of Christianity to come into 
China by the way of the Sandwich Islands. 
He will receive confirmation to his faith, he 
will be defended against temptations to un- 
belief when surrounded as he will be in 
China with one-half the population of the 
earth ignorant of the true God, by having 
seen in the Sandwich Islands what the gos- 



226 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

pel lias done among a race who were as un- 
likely to be converted as any portion of the 
human family. If he comes from his ship 
and steps ashore on the Sabbath in China, 
and sees coopers and blockmakers and boat- 
builders busily at work, the tailors' shops 
filled with men plying their needles, the 
stationers ruling paper, the coolies instead 
of horses and mules carrying everything 
which ever lades a ship, from the quay to 
the storehouses, the thought will come over 
him, What progress is the knowledge of the 
gospel likely to make among this people ? 
Perhaps he spends a Sabbath in the country. 
Here he may look to see the people with- 
drawn from the requirements which the busi- 
ness of a seaport makes of the inhabitants ; 
but in the country ho will find the people as 
busy with their handicraft or trade as the 
people of the city, giving no sign that the 
idea of the Sabbath and of the God of the 



Christian Thoughts in Heathendom. 227 

Sabbath has visited their minds. He will be 
overwhelmed with the contemplation of four 
hundred millions of human beings utterly des- 
titute of the knowledge of God. He remem- 
bers how at home his heart used to glow on 
hearing accounts of additions to native 
churches, and the rehearsal was followed by 
joyful missionary hymns sung impromptu, — 

"Yes, we trust the day is breaking; 
Joyful times are near at hand; " 

and he asks himself whether he is losing his 
confidence in the ultimate triumph of Chris- 
tianity, and in the sufficiency of divine power 
to turn the hearts of nations as the rivers 
of waters are turned. If he be a firm be- 
liever in the Bible, he will say that while 
he remembers the conquest of Canaan, es- 
pecially its first great achievement, the cap- 
ture of Jericho, his faith never can falter. 
Were not the aborigines of Canaan devoted 
to destruction by the Almighty, and their 



228 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

land apportioned to the tribes, with minute 
directions how to take possession of it, the 
very line of march prescribed, the great 
tribe of Judah in the forefront? And did_ 
not our Lord spring out of Judah ? Has he 
not " upon his vesture and upon his thigh a 
name written, — King of kings and Lord of 
lords ? " While, on returning to his christian 
ordinances at home a christian traveller in 
China may be less excited than he used to 
be there at the report of a few conversions 
among the heathen, because he will have an 
enlarged idea of the gross darkness which 
covers the people, he will only have ex- 
changed his former confidence in man for a 
more entire confidence in God. The accu- 
mulation of difficulties in the way of the 
gospel he will regard only as those barrels 
of water which were poured on Elijah's altar, 
serving to make the fire from heaven more 
triumphant. 



A Present from Shanghai. 229 

SHANGHAI PORCELAIN". 

I was sitting on the steamer at Shanghai 
conversing with a friend about the produc- 
tions, natural and artificial, of that region, 
and I expressed the desire to find something 
peculiar to the place which I might take to 
America. In about an hour, happening to 
look at the people on the wharf my friend 
clapped his hands and said, " Here is some- 
thing peculiar to Shanghai; now you can 
have your wish gratified." He called a man 
on board who laid down before us a large 
basket filled with small teapots. I thought 
of course that he was indulging in humor at 
my expense, but he said that people from all 
parts would buy baskets and barrels of this 
ware ; that they declared that nothing was 
more popular at home, at fairs, and for 
presents. He selected twenty-five small tea- 
pots and packed them for me in a basket, 
saying that if I did not appreciate them my 



230 Tinder the Mizzen Mast; 

venerable lady friends would. They were 
made of a material found in that region, a 
fine clay, brown, of different shades, some of 
them highly ornamented with an intermix- 
ture of green, all of them furnished with 
strainers and other conveniences. I brought 
them to America and when I say that in a 
few weeks only one of them remained in my 
possession, nothing need be added to confirm 
the Rev. Mr. Syle's judgment in his selection 
of a representative present from Shanghai. 
When I add that the twenty-five articles cost 
a dollar and twenty-five cents, no further in- 
ducement will be necessary to persuade visi- 
tors to provide themselves with one means of 
furnishing friends with acceptable presents. 

WORK OF THE LAW IN THE HEART. 

Going into a monastery in China with a 
clergyman who could converse in Chinese, 
we saw among the inmates a woman who 
seemed to be ever praying, as she sat a little 



An Instance of Conviction of Sin. 231 

retired from the rest. The superior told us 
that she was praying all the time, being over- 
heard frequently in the night upon her bed in 
supplication. He said that there was some 
great burden upon her mind, which she would 
not disclose. She was evidently not insane ; 
and, from all that I could learn about her, I 
came to the conclusion that she was under 
conviction of sin ; sinfulness, rather than any 
particular transgression, was the burden upon 
her heart. That there are many throughout 
the heathen world thus exercised, we cannot 
question ; the second chapter of Romans 
speaks of them, among others, " with the 
work of the law written in their hearts." 
They may be few compared with the whole 
heathen world ; yet how interesting to think 
that such may be in a state of mind fitting 
them to accept the gospel, should it be made 
known to them, and that they will not perish 
merely for not being acquainted with it. 



232 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Thus, where sin abounds, grace may much 
more abound, choosing its subjects indepen- 
dently of human instructors. ' Thou canst not 
tell whither it goeth,' — this superhuman 
agency. This thought is some little relief to 
one, as he wanders about in those regions of 
the shadow of death, impressed by much that 
he sees with the reflection how true to the 
letter is the apostle's description, in the first 
chapter of Romans, of the heathen world. 

AN AEISTOCRATIC CHINESE FAMILY. 

The party of young friends who called on 
the bride, called also at the house of an aris- 
tocratic Chinese family, with whom one of 
their number was acquainted. There were 
several young daughters and sons in the fam- 
ily, who all spoke some words of English. 
A missionary's daughter acted as interpreter. 
The Chinese young ladies brought out their 
state dresses, which were heavily embroidered 
with silver and gold. They put them on 



Chinese Noble Family. 233 

their visitors, made them walk about the 
courtyard, following them with shouts of 
laughter. They then gave them cake and 
cups of clear tea. One lady belonging to 
the family smoked a long pipe, and offered 
another pipe, with opium, to her guests. 
The Chinese young ladies showed their little 
feet, apparently with much pride, to the 
visitors ; three inches and a half each was 
the measure of nearly all the feet. 

POSTTTBE OF CHINESE PUPILS. 

In a school for girls taught by a missionary 
lady, the visitors saw pupils from five to fif- 
teen years. The feet of these children were 
generally swathed, and . the girls showed, by 
their faces, great pain. Mothers came in to 
listen while the teacher was talking to the 
children. The girls, when reciting, stood 
with their backs to the teacher, a mark of 
respect. They sang several of our familiar 
Sabbath-school hymns. 



284 Tinder the Mkzen Mast; 

AMOY. 

The Steamer from Shanghai to Hong Kong 
put in at Amoy to bring the cargo of a dis- 
abled bark to Hong Kong. This gave some 
of my family who had been making a visit to 
Shanghai an opportunity to see Amoy. It is 
situated on a barren, hilly island ; its streets 
are as narrow as lanes. Going through them 
in chairs, you come out upon a hilly district, 
with few trees, covered with remarkable 
rocks, many of them bowlders, not settled 
so far in the ground as most rocks, but 
lifted from it, some of them on their smallest 
ends, and some leaning towards each other, 
making natural rooms, with mossy floors, 
and an opening at the top. Some of them 
are used as temples on a small scale ; idols, 
discolored by age and damp, are perched in 
them. Some real temples are built of the 
largest bowlders. In one of them, as one of 
the party was sitting on the stool in front of 
the idol, looking at the hideous images with 



Amoy Scenery. 235 

which the temple was filled, expressing her 
wonder that human beings prayed to such 
things, one of the missionaries present asked 
an old priest if they really did believe in 
them. He said he could not tell whether 
the people did believe in them or not. The 
images might, or they might not, be gods ; 
but " it was the custom to worship them ; 
and, after all, whether they heard or not, it 
amounted to about the same thing as the 
worship by christians of their God." 

The foreigners, merchants, missionaries, 
and others, do not, as a general thing, live in 
the city, but on a small island across the 
harbor, rocky, like the larger island where 
the city is built, but not quite so dreary 
and barren. Attempts have been made to 
fertilize it, not wholly without success. 
Many of the houses are attractive, com- 
manding a good sea-view. 

From a great cave called the " Tiger's 



236 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Mouth," formed by two rocks projecting 
from the side of a hill, a flat one forming 
the lower jaw, or the floor of the cave, 
and the upper stone curving over it, making 
a good resemblance to an animaFs mouth, 
you look down upon a wild, barren tract of 
country, where the rocks, my informant said, 
reminded her of almonds stuck into the top 
of a Christmas pudding, or as if giants had 
been having a battle, and their missiles had 
been left on the field in the reckless position 
where they fell. One rock, about eighty tons 
in weight, was balanced on another larger, 
rock so evenly that one man, putting forth 
all his strength, could make it tilt slightly. 
They say that a typhoon makes it rock per- 
ceptibly. Just below it is a small Chinese 
cottage. The woman who occupied it was 
asked if she was not afraid to live there, for 
if the bowlder should tilt a little too much, 
one end of it would go through her roof. 



Meaning of Fung STiuy. 237 

But she said, " No, it is good 4 Fung Shuy, ? 
and will bring good luck to my dwelling," 

FUNG SHOT. 

This leads me to speak of " Fung Shuy." 
Though the literal meaning of " Fung Shuy " 
is " wind and water," this does not give any 
idea of the thing. 

The Chinese regard the south as the source 
of good influence, inasmuch as vegetable life, 
with all the genial influences of spring and 
summer, are from that region. The north, 
they perceive, is the source of death to the 
vegetable kingdom. As animals partake of 
the diverse influences proceeding from these 
two opposite regions, they infer that men 
are suspeetible to the same. They suppose, 
therefore, that there is a vital influence mov- 
ing all the time from south to north. This 
may be obstructed. To secure its full effect, 
they prefer to have their dwellings front 



238 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

south ; for they hold that from the north 
evil influences are constantly proceeding. 
Even the dead, they believe, are susceptible 
to these adverse influences. If graves are 
placed so as to meet good influences, it is 
called good Fung Shuy. It is a subject of 
great study to ascertain the influences which 
promote good Fung Shuy and hinder the 
bad. Anything, as a hill, rock, trees, stand- 
ing due north and not very remote, especial- 
ly if the region toward the south is unob- 
structed, and particularly if water is in that 
direction, is good Fung Shuy. There are 
men who may be called professors of Fung 
Shuy, who are experts in the science. The 
woman in Amoy thought that the bowlder 
near her house was good Fung Shuy. The 
term may be defined, The science of positions 
favoring good, and shielding from bad, influ- 
ences. This is related to the extensive sub- 
ject of ancestral worship, which would lead 
me too far from my narrative. 



Pidgin English, 239 

PIDGIN" ENGLISH. 

" Pidgin-English " is a singular form of 
speech which the Chinese language assumes 
when the natives are first attempting to use 
English. Pidgin means business. You are 
made by it to think of the dialect which we 
fall into in talking to infants. If any one 
can explain why infants are supposed to un- 
derstand us better when we make our words 
terminate in ee or y, he may proceed and 
explain the natural philosophy of Pidgin- 
English. In talking to a Chinaman you find 
yourself, as it were, addressing an infantile 
capacity, imitating his own Pidgin way of 
speaking, even in talking to an adult. I will 
give one or two specimens of pidgin-English, 
which I found in print. The first is Norval's 
Narrative, taken, as the reader hardly needs 
to be informed, from the Rev. Dr. Home's 
tragedy of " Douglass." 



240 Under the Mizzen Mast; 



XORYAL'S NARRATIVE. 

My name is Norval. On the Grampian hills 

My father feeds his flock, a frugal swain, 

Whose constant cares were to increase his store 

And keep his only son, myself, at home. 

For I had heard of battles, and I longed 

To follow to the field some warlike lord. 

And Heaven soon granted what my sire denied. 

This moon which rose last night, round as my shield, 

Had not yet filled her horns, when by her light 

A band of fierce barbarians from the hills 

Rushed like a torrent down upon the vale 

Sweeping our flocks and herds. The shepherds fled 

For safety and for succor. I alone 

With bended bow and quiver full of arrows 

Hovered about the enemy, and marked 

The road he took, then hasted to my friends, 

Whom, with a troop of fifty chosen men, 

I met advancing. The pursuit I led 

Till we o'ertook the spoil-encumbered foe. 






NorvaPs Narrative, 241 



PIDGIN-ENGLISH OF NORVAL'S NARRATIVE. 

My name belong 1 Norval. Topside that Grampian hillee 

My father makee pay 2 chow chow 3 he sheep. 

He smallee heartee man ; too muchee take care that dolla, 

gallo. 
So fashion he wanchee keep my; 4 counta one piecie 

chilo, 5 stop he own side. 
My no wanchee. Wanchee go long that largee mandoli. 6 
Little teem, 7 Joss pay my what thing my father no likee 

pay. 8 
That moon last nightee get up loune, alia same my hat; 
No go up full, no got square ; that plenty piecie man, 9 
That lobbel man 10 too muchee qui-si, 11 alia same that tiger, 
Chop chop come down that hillee, catchee that sheep 

long that cow, 
That man custom take care, too muchee quick lun way. 
My one piecie owne spie eye, 12 see that ladlone man 

what side he walkee. 
Hi-yah ! No good chancie findee he catchee my flen. 13 
Too piecie loon choon lun catchee that lobbel man ; 14 he 
No can walkee welly quick; he pocket too much full up. 

1 Common word for " is." 23 Pastures. 4 Me. 5 Considering 
I am his only child. 6 That great mandarin. ? In a little time. 
8 Providence (Joss) provides what my father would not. 9 That 
band. 10 Robber. n Very fierce ; chop chop : — quick. 12 My 
eye alone watched that robber. 13 Could not rally any friends. 
14 Two of us soon caught up with him. 



242 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

We fought and conquered. Ere a sword was drawn, 

An arrow from my bow had pierced their chief, 

Who wore that day the arms which now I wear. 

Eeturning home in triumph, I disdained 

The shepherd's slothful life; and having heard 

That our good king had summoned his bold peers 

To lead their warriors to the Carron side, 

I left my father's house, and took with me 

A chosen servant to conduct my steps, 

Ton trembling coward, who forsook his master. 

Journeying with this intent, I passed these towers. 

And, Heaven-directed, came this day to do 

The happy deed that gilds my humble name. 



The following is a better specimen, there 
being fewer liberties in the rendering : — 

EXCELSIOR. 

The shades of night were falling fast, 
As through an Alpine village passed 
A youth, who bore, mid snow and ice, 
A banner with the strange device, 
Excelsior ! 



Excelsior. 243 

So fashion knockee he largee. 15 He head man no got 

shottee far 16 
My knockee he head. Hi-yah ! My number one stlong 17 

man. 
Catchee he jacket, long he trousa, galo. 18 You like look 

see? 
My go puttee on just now. My go home, largie heart just 

now. 
My no likee take care that sheep. So fashion my hear 

you go fightee this side, 19 
My takee one servant, come you country, come helpie you, 
He heart all same cow; too muchee fear; lun away; 
Masquie ! 20 Joss take care pay my come your house. 21 

15 We beat him, largely. 16 Before he had time to shoot. 17 1 
am very strong. 18 Took his clothes; (galo: an exclamation.) 
19 1 hear you have war. 20 "Never mind," a Portuguese excla- 
mation. 21 Providence led my way hither — N. B. The Chinese 
do not pronounce the letter r; for "run," they say "lun." 



TOPSIDE GALAH. 

That nightee teem 1 he come chop chop, 2 
One young man walkee, no can stop. 
Colo masquie, 3 icee masquie, 
He got flag chop b'long welly culio see* 
Topside Galah. 

1 2 That night-time drew on fast. 3 No matter for the cold. 
*He had a flag which was very curious. 



244 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

His brow was sad ; his eye beneath 
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath ; 
And like a silver clarion rung 
The accents of that unknown tongue. 
Excelsior ! 

In happy homes he saw the light 

Of household fires gleam warm and bright ; 

Above, the spectral glaciers shone, 

And from his lips escaped a groan, 

Excelsior ! 

"Try not the pass!" the old man said; 
"Dark lowers the tempest overhead; 
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!" 
And loud that clarion voice replied, 
Excelsior ! 

"Oh, stay!" the maiden said, "and rest 
Thy weary head upon this breast!" 
A tear stood in his bright blue eye; 
But still he answered, with a sigh, 
Excelsior ! 



Excelsior. 245 

Hee too muchee solly; 5 one piecie 6 eye 
Lookee sharp so fashion, alia same mi; 7 
He talkee largee, talkee stlong, 8 
Too muchee culio, 9 alia same gong. 
Topside Galah. 

Inside any housee he can see light; 
Any piecie loom 10 got fire all light? 
He look see plenty ice more high, 
Inside he mouf he plenty cly ; n 
Topside Galah. 

"No can walkee!" ole man speakee he; 12 
"Bimeby lain 13 come; no can see; 
Hab got water, welly wide ! " 
Masquie! mi 14 must go topside; 
Topside Galah. 

"Man-man!" 15 one galo 16 talkee he; 
"What for you go topside? look see." 
"Nother teem," he makee plenty cly. 17 
Masquie; alia teem he walkee plenty high. 13 
Topside Galah. 



5 Sony. 6 Each of his eyes. 7 The same as "mine." 8 Strong. 
9 Very curious. 10 Every room. n Cry. 12 Old man said to 
him. 13 Rain. 1* I. i5Stop. 16 A Girl said to him. 17 He 
earnestly answered. 18 All the time he kept on walking. 



246 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch! 
Beware the awful avalanche!" 
This was the peasant's last Good-night; 
A voice replied, far up the height, 
Excelsior ! 

At break of day, as heavenward 
The pious monks of Saint Bernard 
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer, 
A voice cried through the startled air, 
Excelsior ! 

A traveller, by. the faithful hound, 
Half buried in the snow was found, 
Still grasping in his hand of ice 
That banner with the strange device, 
Excelsior ! 

There in the twilight cold and gray, 
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay; 
And from the sky, serene and far, 
A voice fell like a falling star, 
Excelsior ! 



Excelsior. 247 

" Take care that spiluni tlee, 19 young man ! 
"Take care that icee!" he no man man; 20 
That coolie chin chin 21 he good night; 
He talkee, "Mi can go all light.' ' 
Topside Galah. 

Joss pidgin 22 man chop chop begin, 23 
Morning teem that Joss chin chin; 24 
No see any man; he plenty fear, 
Cause some man talkee, 25 he can hear. 
Topside Galah. 

Young man makee die; 26 one largee dog see; 
Too muchee bobbery findee he, 27 
Hand too muchee colo; 28 inside can stop, 
Alia same piecee flag, got culio chop, 2930 
Topside Galah. 

19 Withered tree, 20 He would not stop. 21 That peasant bid 
him good-night. 22 The religious man. 23 Soon. 24 Religious 
address. 25 He heard a voice. 2 6 Had to meet death. 2 ? With 
difficulty found him. 28 Very cold. 29 The same flag with its 
curious device. 30 Chop is brand, stamp, quality; e.g. first 
chop. 



248 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

A PEACOCK OEDEEED FOE DUSTNEE. 

One captain ordered a peacock for dinner, 
We had a variety of feelings in anticipa- 
ting the repast, none of them agreeable. 
On coming to table, no peacock appeared. 
The steward was summoned. " I told you 
have a peacock. Why no peacock ? " The 
steward as though afraid, said, "Igo ashore 
to get him peacock ; I say, 4 Cap'n want pea- 
cock. Policee-man come ; he say, What for 
you come ashore no paper tell you may come 
get peacock ? Then he look all a same mad, 
say, i Go long, get in ship ; I see you again I 
catchee you ; I lock you up in ' go-down.' 
Then I frightened ; so I get no peacock for 
dinner." The explanation was as good as a 
feast, including the look of terror, the ges- 
ticulation, the many ellipses in the narration. 
But the captain who had had great experi- 
ence of Chinese human nature, said that he 
had no doubt the whole story was a fabrica- 
tion. 






Pidgin English 249 

DIRECTIONS TO A SEKVANT IN PIDGIN 
ENGLISH. 

I heard a captain of a steamer address his 
man-servant thus, when sending him from 
the cabin to his stateroom on deck for a box 
of writing paper : " Boy, you go topside my 
room. You see two piecee box belong all 
same, (look just alike.) One piecee have 
pens; my no wanchee that. Other piecee 
have paper. My wanchee. You makee pay 
my, (bring that to me.) Savez ? (do you 
understand ? ") The waiter nodded assent, 
and brought the right box. 

A lady was giving a dinner party to sev- 
eral gentleman and ladies. She told her 
butler to " set the table for sixteen piecee 
man." 

A sampan man whom our captain wished 
to hire, was asked by him how many there 
were to row his sampan. He replied, 
" Seven piecee man," meaning, as it proved, 



250 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

himself, several sons, most of them young 
boys, and the mother who rowed with her 
infant tied round her neck ; making seven 
hands, not counting the babe. 

A gentleman who was joking with one of 
his sedan bearers, talking nonsense, was an- 
swered, "Massa C, you belong too much 
culio, (too funny.) My never have see one 
man all same culio." 

The American Eagle, that fierce gray bird 
with a bending beak, is known even in China 
by that celebrated feature. A Chinese serv- 
ant told his master that while he was out a 
gentleman called. On being asked who it 
was, the servant said : " My no savee ; but 
my can speakee what fashion he makee look 
see ; " (what his appearance was.) " He 
belong one smallee man ; no too muchee 
stout ; had got one nose all same that Meli- 
can chickey." 



Foreign Children and Chinese Tongue. 251 

The mysteries of human speech are im- 
pressively illustrated in the ease with which 
the children of foreign extraction, brought 
up from infancy in China, learn and skilfully 
use the slight tones and the other niceties of 
the language. An ear accustomed to music 
of course is a great help in learning this lan- 
guage ; but when a person is in the least dull 
of hearing, it is not easy to distinguish be- 
tween some of the words, and especially the 
intonations, which in the Cantonese dialect, 
for example, so largely determine the mean- 
ing. One thought impressed me in thinking 
of the language as a barrier against the rest 
of the world : If the Chinese nature is natur- 
ally upright, and if sin is owing wholly to 
contamination by intercourse with depraved 
people, how happens it that China does not 
present us with a people of saints ? having 
been kept by their language, as they ha\e 
been, from mixing with men. That language 



252 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

has done more than their great wall in separ- 
ating them from the rest of mankind. 

A TYPHOON. 

We had a typhoon at Hong Kong, Sept. 
29. I was spending a fortnight at the house 
of Dr. Legge. On Sabbath evening at sun- 
down there was an appearance of rain, with 
some unusual disturbances in the air ; soon 
the servants came into the parlor with planks 
and joists to strengthen the windows, the 
same precaution being used outside. The 
wind rapidly increased, till the strength of 
our gale at Boston, Sept. 8, 1869, had but a 
faint resemblance to it. Instead of one 
blast, there were lulls ; then a renewed tem- 
pest increasing in strength while the typhoon 
lasted, which in this case was from sundown 
on Sunday till Tuesday at daybreak. Hun- 
dreds of lives were last in Hong Kong har- 
bor. The ships were almost invisible from 



'Typhoon at Home. 253 

the shore, the spoon-drift being nearly equal 
to a thick fog. We were grateful that the 
typhoon did not find us at sea. We could 
understand the answers of old sea-captains, 
who, on some one in our hearing saying that 
he should like to witness a typhoon, shook 
their heads, looked grave, and said, "You 
will never wish to see another."* 

SINGAPORE. 

Another excursion by favor of the Messrs. 
Heard and of Captain Arthur H. Clark of 
the steamer u Suwo Nada," plying between 



*After my return I was preaching, August 27th, at the Con- 
gregational Church in Arlington, Mass., when I used the Ty- 
phoon to illustrate the safety of those who trust in God. Dur- 
ing intermission I was impressed by the action of the branches 
of the willow trees in the wind, and said, If we were in China I 
should judge that we were about to have a typhoon. It was a 
clear day. The wind was not very strong, but fitful gusts would 
lift the long boughs of the willows almost to a perpendicular. 
That night something resembling a typhoon passed over the 
town, bringing down the steeple of the Congregational Church, 
with the bell, through the roof, with very serious damage to that 
building and others. Had the typhoon come upon us during the 
hours of morning service, the illustration in the sermon might 
have been superseded by the thing itself. In viewing some of 
the effects of the wind I was forcibly reminded of its action as a 
Typhoon in China. 



254 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Hong Kong and Singapore, was made to 
Singapore. On the way, we stopped at Sai- 
gon, a French port in Cochin China, from 
which the French were then compelling the 
enemy to retire. Rice is largely exported 
from this place, and opinm is received to an 
amount which tells a fearful story. Here we 
saw noble specimens of tigers, which are 
declared by authors of high repute to haye 
destroyed on an average one man a day 
through the year, not many years ago, in 
some parts of the East Indies. They swim 
over to the islands from the main lands. 
They approach their victim from behind, 
felling him with a blow upon the head. 

Singapore is about eight days by steamer 
from Hong Kong, including the visit to Sai- 
gon. At Singapore you feel that you are 
in the East Indies, from the luxuriant foliage, 
the birds of marvellous plumage. We were 
politely taken to the country seat of Dr. 



Singapore. 255 

John Little, by his brother, Matthew Little, 
Esq., where we found ourselves in a forest of 
cocoanut trees. The fruit is brought in 
loads to the mill, where a long blade in a 
frame separates the outer covering, and the 
nut goes through several processes by which 
every part of it is turned to use. The say- 
ing is that the cocoanut serves ninety-nine 
purposes. The rough husk being subjected 
to a powerful pressure is at once reduced to 
a fibrous state ready to be worked into coir 
mats or spun into cheap ropes. The natural 
bend of the husk, adapting it to the human 
head, it is sometimes carefully prepared, and 
dyed, then worn. We were entertained in a 
sumptuous manner with true East Indian 
bounty. We rode home after nine o'clock in 
the evening, listening to every sound, the 
rustling of every tree and brake, prepared to 
see a tiger spring upon the horses. We were 
glad to see the lights of the town in ex- 



256 Under the Mizzen Blast; 

change for the long, solitary road which, 
however, with all its imaginary or real perils 
we would not willingly have failed to travel. 
At the residence of Cyrus Wakefield, Jr., and 
Temple R. Fay, we were superbly enter- 
tained, and from these gentlemen we re- 
ceived very many favors. Among them, a 
box of corals which had attracted my notice 
as I passed through the packing room of the 
counting house of Messrs. Bousteed & Co., 
and which awakened a hopeless desire to 
purchase, I afterward found was in prepara- 
tion for us. — Mr. Vaughan and Mr. Hanna 
laid us under great obligations by their beau- 
tiful hospitality. 

A principal road runs close by the sea, is 
well shaded, and abounds in delicious odors 
from the gardens. The house and grounds 
of a rich Chinaman, Mr. Whampoa, are 
visited by foreigners as objects of interest. 
Rare East-India plants, ponds filled with the 



Mr. Whampocfs Gfardens. 257 

pink lotus, vines trained or trimmed in fan- 
tastic shapes, such as eagles, deer, lions, and 
many others, on frames, trees with great 
variety of foliage, make the place attractive. 
A six-legged turtle which we examined was 
an object of much interest to its owner. He 
is a venerable man, speaks English well, 
gives free admission to visitors introduced by 
any one with whom he is acquainted. 

It made us feel that we were indeed in 
Eastern regions to be contiguous, as we were 
one day, to the residence of a Rajah, the 
name savoring of Oriental life. 

CURRY. 

To those who are fond of this condiment, 
it may be interesting to know that Singapore 
has the reputation of furnishing the best 
article in this form of diet. It would re- 
quire one to be more of a connoisseur than 
the writer to decide whether Singapore, 



258 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Manila, or Anjer is entitled to the palm in 
preparing this article of luxury. Those who 
award it to Singapore say there are ingredi- 
ents in the mixture at this place which are 
not to be obtained elsewhere ; for they can 
not be exported and retain their flavor, thb 
excellence of curry depending, we are told, 
on its being prepared fresh every day. The? 
flavor of the fresh cocoanut is essential 
Those who have eaten curry powder on their 
food in this country, have an agreeable sur- 
prise on tasting the article of curry in the 
East Indies. The servants grind some of the 
ingredients on stones, and the frequency 
with which we saw the operation as we 
passed along the streets in Singapore, made 
us feel that the preparation of curry root has 
a reputation which it requires labor to main- 
tain. 

To specify all that is to be enjoyed in 
Singapore through every sense, would fill a 



Leaving Singapore. 259 

volume, We went off to the " Suwo Nada " 
in a boat and steamed away from this garden 
of luxuries by groves of cocoanut trees, 
through lines of ships from all quarters of 
the globe, and, after an enchanting passage, 
found ourselves once more safe in Hong 
Kong harbor. 



MANILA. — HOMEWARD BOUND. 

My country, sir, is not a single spot 
Of such a mould, or fixed to such a clime; 
No ! 'tis the social circle of my friends, 
The loved community in which I'm linked, 
And in whose welfare all my wishes centre. 

Miller's Mahomet 

Whose heart has ne'er within him burned 
As home his footsteps he hath turned 
From wandering on a foreign strand? 

W. Scott ; Lay of the Last Minstrel. 

There blend the ties that strengthen 

Our hearts in hours of grief, 
The silver links that lengthen 

Joj^s visits when most brief. 
Then dost thou sigh for pleasure? 

Oh! do not widely roam, 
But seek that hidden treasure 

At home, dear home! 

Bernard Barton. 

|N the 22d of November we left Hong 
] M Kong for Manila, our agents con- 
"'^pli 1 '" eluding to wait no longer for hemp 
to fall, but to load the ship with sugar. We 

260 



Manila. 261 

took in three million pounds, enough, we 
were told, to supply our whole country one 
day. 

We reached Manila Bay Dec. 1, but we 
would not have wondered had we been 
weeks, instead of five days, in contest with 
the current and head winds. One day we 
tacked fourteen times off Manila. At length 
we dropped anchor in the spacious roadstead, 
and waited for the health officers and the 
custom-house officials to inspect us. No one 
is allowed to have any communication with a 
vessel until she is officially visited. Steam- 
tugs would be an advantage to weary mari- 
ners contending against the current in sight 
of anchorage. 

We were the guests of a gentleman and 
his wife, he a member of the house of 
Messrs. Peele, Hubbell, & Co,* We were 
there seven weeks, and, even if delicacy 

George H. Peirce, Esq. 



262 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

permitted, language would fail in the attempt 
to express what we enjoyed in that beautiful 
house. Situated at one end of the city in 
the parish of Santa Ana we were removed 
from the noise and tumult of business. The 
river runs near the house with a current of 
at least four miles an hour, bringing down, 
day by day, literally innumerable wild herb- 
age plants washed from the lakes in the 
country. Few things ever gave me a more 
vivid idea of infinitude than that ceaseless 
flow of herbage. Immense plaintain-leaves 
stood round the house looking like the blades 
of huge oars ; the banana hung in large clus- 
ters ; the garden was filled with many things 
to delight the eye. The house covered a 
large area. You enter it by a spacious drive- 
way, roofed over with the main building. 
Stone steps lead up to the story on which 
are all the rooms in the house, high and 
wide, opening into the large hall. Instead 



Residence of George R. Peiree, Esq, 263 

of carpets, floors here are polished, by rub- 
bing them with the plaintain-leaf. The 
house was cool and in all respects most com- 
fortable. The eye is refreshed by constant 
verdure, the grass in December and January 
having the brilliant green which our early 
grass presents in the month of June. It 
seemed strange to be riding in open carriages 
at Christmas- time and January, with ladies 
in muslin dresses, or requiring only light 
shawls. The atmosphere is clear, and the 
stars have so peculiar a lustre as to be the 
subject of remark by foreigners. The river 
runs about fifteen miles to a lake, by cocoa- 
nut groves, and in some places by steep cliffs 
nearly two hundred and fifty feet on each 
side, covered with foliage, and having small 
cascades. In the river there are as many as 
twenty-eight rapids. Some of our party as- 
cended them in canoes, spending two days 
on an excursion with a company. One 



264 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

evening a party of gentlemen took a small 
steamer, the private property of a friend, 
and went with us up to the lake. It was a 
moonlight night ; the East-Indian scenery, 
the curves in the stream, and at last the 
scenery of the lake, made the excursion en- 
chanting. 

The society in Manila, composed of Amer- 
ican, English, Scotch, and Spanish people, 
was delightful. Their hospitalities, enter- 
tainments, and numberless courtesies make' 
deep impressions upon a visitor. There are 
no unpleasant distinctions among them ; they 
maintain an agreeable freedom in their inter- 
course. Indeed one cannot spend a few days 
in Manila without feeling glad if it happens 
to be at the close of a long tour ; for as it 
will be most likely to be pronounced the 
climax of his social experience, it will be ap- 
propriate to leave it at the close. 

I used to drive with Mr. Peirce when he 



Manila Sugar Mills, — Cigars. 265 

visited the sugar mills where his House were 
obtaining their supply of sugar to load our 
ship. We saw the crude material just from 
the cane, drying in the sun. I remember 
that on our passage home from Manila the 
cabin table happened to be short of sugar ; 
but having three million pounds on board 
we ventured to draw on the cargo for a sup- 
ply. When it came on table from the hold, 
the sight of it made us feel that sugar re- 
finery was far from being a luxury, for it was 
hard to believe that the dark, coarse stuff 
could ever become white powdered sugar. 
Could we but shut our eyes, as we were 
inclined to do when we put it into our 
cups, we could draw from it a power of 
sweetness, though with a large tare and tret 
of original fibrous matter, 

MANILA CIGAES. 

I visited the great cigar factories and 
imagined how my friends, lay and clerical, 



266 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

would envy me the privilege. But I could 
not be in the atmosphere of the factory ten 
minutes without experiencing a feeling akin 
to vertigo, which made me retreat to the 
open air. By going out and in several times 
I succeeded in gratifying my curiosity. The 
gentlemanly foreman begged me to take 
some of his products as specimens. I told 
him I could not appreciate them. He said 
if I would allow him to give me only one he 
was sure that he could overcome my repug- 
nance, He went to a private drawer and 
drew out one on which he duly expatiated, 
then wrapped it in a paper and gave it to 
me. It is now in my drawer at home, two 
years old, well seasoned, waiting for my 
decision whether it will be safe to give it to 
some clerical friend who will promise that he 
will leave off smoking if I will treat his 
resolution with this very choicest Manila. 
•Or would the gift have a powerful effect in 
an opposite direction ? 



Catholic Churches in Manila. 267 

THE CHUECH OF SANTA ANA. 

We were near the old Church of Santa 
Ana, whose beils many times a day remind 
the faithful of their devotions, They were 
played skilfully, with a loud noise and with 
a vivacity such as I never before heard from 
bells. On one bell a man would drum a 
tune, the military music on a church bell 
having a decidedly frivolous effect. At six 
o'clock in the afternoon, the native inhabi- 
tants pause wherever they may happen to be 
at the vesper bell, and perform their devo- 
tions. I frequently met the Archbishop and 
his secretary in an evening walk, who would 
stop suddenly when the bell struck and, un- 
covering their heads, would repeat their 
prayers. I visited most of the churches. 
Imposture nowhere reigns with more open 
demands upon the credulity of the people. 
In one of the churches there are large paint- 
ings of the " Holy Girdle," whose marvel- 



268 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

lous cures, and power over serpents, and the 
bestowment of blessings in answer to faith 
in it, are described in large letters. Each 
of the many parishes has a monthly proces- 
sion in which the population join. One 
evening we encountered a procession which 
blocked the streets for two hours. Four 
thousand women in black filled each side of 
the wide street, chanting Scripture and 
prayers, the men occupying the middle of 
the street with an imposing show of images 
of canonized persons surrounded with lighted 
chandeliers. Each woman in this procession 
had a lighted wax candle which she had 
bought of the priests, to be returned to them 
after the march. This is the source of a 
large revenue to the Church. These proces- 
sion keep up a lively enthusiasm among the 
people. 



Pina Embroidery. — Games. 269 

PINA ABTICLES. 

The manufacture of the Pina articles em- 
ploys the people at home. These exquisite 
articles, such as veils, handkerchiefs, &c, are 
made of the fibre of the pine-apple ; at al« 
most every house in some of the poorer parts 
of the city 3 r ou see this work on small frames, 
exposed to the sun. 

GAME COCKS. 

The men are very many of them occupied 
in the training of game-cocks ; frequently 
every tenth man you meet will have one of 
these birds under his arm. 

TIGER AND BUFFALO EIGHT. 

One Sabbath we were told there was a 
fight between a tiger and a buffalo on ex- 
hibition. The buffaloes are meek, docile 
animals, used instead of oxen. Their horns 
are wide-spread and very long. The buffalo 
took the tiger on his horns, threw him high, 
and the fall indisposed him for further effort. 



270 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

FIRE-FLEES. 

Some of the most beautiful objects here 
are the trees rilled with fire-flies. Sometimes 
all along a road the trees will be crowned 
with the small creatures, their light con- 
stantly emitted ; so that the tree looks as 
though it were filled with gems. Few sights 
are more attractive, 

SPANISH MUSIC. 

The inhabitants resort in the evening to 
the Pier, which is a solid structure extend- 
ing a sixteenth of a mile into the bay, a sea- 
view on all sides ; and once a week there is 
music by the bands, which draws crowds. 
Much of this Spanish music is more senti- 
mental than we are accustomed to hear ad- 
dressed to the populace, exciting a thought- 
ful attention. 

CLIMATE OF MANILA. 

Manila is the capital of Luzon, one of- the 



Climate . — Re ligion. 271 

Philippine Islands. The climate in Decem- 
ber and January was intensely hot. After 
nine o'clock in the morning, it was not 
agreeable to be out of doors, even to drive ; 
but at five in the afternoon, and in the even- 
ing, the cool sea-breezes made it pleasant to 
be abroad. 

. EELIGIOTJS SEE VICE. 

Religious services are sustained on Sab- 
bath evenings by a few christian friends at 
the house of one of their number, but their 
is no public place of Protestant worship 
there. It was instructive to go from China, 
from the depths of heathen idolatry, into 
the depths of formalism under the name of 
Christianity. You question whether you 
have advanced at all into the light of truth ; 
for though it is a relief to be where the 
Scriptures and the names and forms of Chris- 
tianity are heard and seen, you are impressed 



272 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

with the bias of the human heart to idolatry. 
To come from heathenism in China, and 
Roman Gatholic superstition in Manila, into 
christian temples here at home, makes you 
wonder that only a certain number of leagues 
of salt water separate between us and such 
places as Canton or Manila. 

TEOPICAL FRUITS. 

Of all the fruits which I have tasted in 
any part of the world, nothing has seemed to 
me preferable to the East Indian Mango. 
It is about the length of a full grown cucum- 
ber, as large as the largest specimens of that 
vegetable, smaller at one end that at the 
other. It has a flat stone extending from 
end to end. The skin is about the thickness 
of that of the banana. You stand the mango 
on one end in your plate and slice it on 
either side of the stone. Two slices then 
lay before you. With a dessert spoon you 



The Mango. 273 

take out piece after piece of the tender fruit, 
and when you have eaten both halves to the 
skin, there yet remains the stone, which has 
a great deal on it. You take it up in both 
hands and pass your mouth around it. By 
this time your hands and face are a spectacle 
which you can judge of by the predicament 
which you see your neighbor to be in. You 
are ready to agree with the East Indian 
maxim that a mango never should be eaten 
except in a tub of water. You cannot help 
beginning with another ; but let it be small, 
or you will be likely to inquire if you may 
not divide your second with a friend. The 
fruit is of about the same color inside as 
the muskmelon, but it is harder, though not 
tough, not disagreeably sweet ; juicy, nutri- 
tious. We began to receive them at Hong 
Kong in May, from Manila, where they are 
in perfection. We were surprised on seeing 
them upon the table at Christmas in Manila, 



274 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

a forcing process being used there to bring 
them forward. 

Another valuable fruit in the East Indies 
is the Mangastene. It is of the size of the 
tomato and looks like it in shape ; it is of the 
deep purple color of the purple grape. The 
outside shell, which is easily broken by the 
hand, being removed, a snow white fruit ap- 
pears, divided like the tomato into as many 
sections. Its juice is slightly acid, - — more 
correctly, acidulated, — a pleasant sour. 
There being little or nothing solid in it, the 
saying is that one may eat of the fruit indefi- 
nitely. There are few fruits better adapted 
to a warm climate. 

At Shanghai the Watermelon attains a de- 
gree of perfection which I have never known 
exceeded. 

The Pumelo, though a coarse fruit, is valu- 
able. It resembles the West India shad- 
duck ; it is a large, fleshy orange, not so 
juicy as that fruit. 



The Banana— The Tree of Life. 275 

To those who are food of the banana it 
must be a delight to spend time where they 
can fully gratify their taste for it. The Sand- 
wich Islands gave us the best specimens. — I 
cannot say it would be easy for me to en- 
large this description of foreign fruits ; in- 
deed it would be painful, for the mention of 
these fruits is a vivid reminder of lost joys, 
joys pure, innocent, health-giving, a source 
of gratitude to the Giver of all good, stimu- 
lating the anticipation of future pleasure, 
which divine revelation does not consider it 
beneath itself to specify among the promised 
pleasures of heaven. It used to be a pleas- 
ant theme of meditation in those East India 
regions, that in the fields of the blest there 
is a species of tree (not, of course, one soli- 
tary tree) which bears twelve manner of 
fruits, and yields fruit every month. It was 
a harmless fancy of an invalid which twelve 
of all the fruits known to him he would 



276 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

select for that species of tree to bear. His 
taste would make grave mistakes in putting 
the watermelon, for example, on the same 
tree with the plum ; which led him to ques- 
tion whether the structural nature of the 
tree might not be supposed to be as far be- 
yond his present botanical knowledge as the 
yield of the tree would surpass his present 
experience. His acquaintance with the al- 
most perpetual banana gave him some idea 
of the practicability of vegetation reaching 
to the extent, even, of yielding fruit every 
month ; so that without consulting with the 
botanical critic he would load his tree with 
the East Indian mango, mangastenes, apri- 
cots, muskmelons, peaches, pears, grapes, ap- 
ples, quinces, watermelons, banana, figs ; and 
then he would consider how inadequate was 
a pomological catalogue to express the known 
objects which stood ready to tempt his appe- 
tite. The queen of Sheba, herself from the 



The Cassowary. 277 

East, perhaps admonished him by seeming to 
say that a greater than Solomon would here- 
after ' feed him and lead him to living foun- 
tains of waters.' 

THE CASSOWABY. 

At Manila one object after another would 
be continually presenting itself to our notice, 
leading the thoughts into the still remote 
parts of the eastern world. In the yard of a 
gentleman stood this singular creature, which 
you felt obliged to call a bird yet you would 
prefer that it should be classed as an animal, 
for it seemed to belong among animals, 
though it is a biped. Its enormous legs, 
eighteen inches long, its fleshy protuberance 
on its head, coarsely imitating the tuft on the 
head of the peacock, left you in doubt how 
to assign it a place among the tribes of the 
animal kingdom, reminding you of the ex- 
ploit in rhyming which a wit perpetrated 



278 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

with its name and its place of nativity, mak- 
ing Cassowary to rhyme with 4 missionary,' 
and Timbuctoo with 4 hymn-book too.' 

LEAVING MANILA. 

We left Manila Jan. 20th, with great re- 
gret. We were taking leave of valued 
friends, besides bidding adieu to scenes of 
interest which had not been surpassed in our 
experience. We had reached the eastern 
limit of our long voyage ; we were to turn 
and find our way to the western continent. 
Objects of thrilling interest were yet to be 
passed. But how could we help feeling the 
need of special assistance in the great under- 
taking of going round the other half of 
the globe ? These words came to me, and 
some lines were suggested by them : 



8 To the Other Side. ' 279 

" When the even was come he saith unto them, Let us pass 
over unto the other side." Mark iv. 25. 

They went, and as they sailed 
A storm came down upon the lake ; 
It made the boldest spirits quake ; 
Their faith forsook them, so their courage failed. 

He on a pillow slept ; 
The stormy waters waked not Him. 
But prayer had power to break the dream 
Which through the tempest Him asleep had kept. 

There on Gadara's shore 
Hell's sullen legion knew his form; 
He and the twelve, escaped the storm, 
Enrage their spiteful enemies the more. 

He speaks, the gale goes down ; 
The legion at his bidding flee ; 
The maniac finds recovery 
And spreads abroad the Xazarene's renown. 

We leave what may betide, 
Saviour ! to thy Almighty power. 
So, trusting in thy love each hour, 
We will pass over to the other side. 



PASSING ANJEE. 

We began our homeward voyage from 
Manila Jan 20, and reached Anjer, Feb. 1. 



280 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

Anjer is the western point of Java ; vessels 
pass it to and from the China seas. " Passed 
Anjer,'-' in the marine reports, signifies that a 
vessel has left the China seas on her home- 
ward way, or has just entered them on her 
outward voyage. Anjer supplies vessels with 
poultry, vegetables, fruits and water. On 
enquiring for bananas, we were told by a man 
who came on board that he would get us ; ' a 
fathom of them for a dollar." It was a large 
Oriental statement, with a basis of truth ; 
but six feet of bananas for a dollar seemed 
too good to be true. 

Batavia is about seventy-five miles from 
Anjer; the road to it is characterized by 
Dutch solidity and thoroughness. Opposite 
the hotel at Anjer is a banian-tree, said to be 
the largest in diameter in that part of the 
world, composed of shoots which have de- 
scended from the top, taken root, and become 
principal parts of the tree. We saw from 



"Passed Anjer." 281 

shore our ship under sail, waiting for us, 
beating about against a head wind and cur- 
rent. The sight was animating. We rowed 
off to her four miles, glad to be on board the 
noble thing which had borne us more than 
half round the world, and was waiting to 
complete the great circuit. As often as we 
now see in the marine record, " Passed 
Anjer," we recall the sensations with which 
we looked off from that lighthouse, which is 
the first or last object of interest to all who 
navigate those East-Indian seas. 

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 

It was extremely interesting to be ap- 
proaching this famous point. That great 
maritime revelation, the opening of a new 
route to India in 1487, the story of Bartholo- 
mew Diaz and Vasco da Gama, and of the 
first navigators around that point, who used 
to bury their journals and set up a stone 



282 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

pointing to them, that the homeward-bound 
vessels might, by this primitive mail arrange- 
ment, get the latest news of them, made it 
an object of deep interest. Here the astron- 
omers come from different countries, to ob- 
serve the signs of the heavens ; and certainly 
no place can be conceived of more favorable 
for such purposes. The clear atmosphere 
and the perfect horizon make it a place well 
fitted for telescopes to try their power. The 
Indian Ocean opening here, spreads before 
the observer the scene of some of the most 
interesting events of history. Being about 
four thousand miles from north to south, and 
of equal breadth, and receiving the Red Sea, 
holding the Persian Gulf and the Ba} r of 
Bengal, distinguished by such islands as 
Madagascar, Mauritius, Ceylon, and by such 
rivers as the Tigris, Euphrates, Indus, Ganges, 
and by the great equatorial current which, 
after it leaves the wide coast of China, crosses 






The Indian Ocean. 283 

this ocean to the Mozambique Channel, seek- 
ing the east coast of Africa, and making its 
way by the Cape of Good Hope, — this 
Indian Ocean does not yield in historic or 
natural interest to the two greater oceans. 
Its northern part, divided from the southern 
by the Tropic of Capricorn, floats the com- 
merce of Europe and this country with 
China, India, and the Malay Islands. Arabia 
and Persia, and the opposite India have used 
its waters for centuries in their local com- 
merce. Points of interest along its seacoast, 
gulfs, and rivers are, Aden and Mocha in 
Arabia, Bassorah in Turkey, Bombay, Mad- 
ras, Calcutta in Hindostan, and Point de 
Galle in Ceylon. It seemed more like the 
centre of the world on this ocean than else- 
where. Its astronomical attractions and its 
sunsets give it a peculiar charm, though after 
all that has been said of Indian Ocean sun- 
sets, I am constrained to say that in Prince* 



284 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

ton, Massachusetts, I have seen more wonder- 
ful sunsets than I saw in the Indian Ocean. 

TABLE MOUNTAIN. 

Table Mountain, which makes the most 
prominent object at the Cape of Good Hope, 
though not the southernmost point, is 3,816 
feet high. It has a flat summit of great 
extent, and from that peculiarity in its for- 
mation it has its name. It is seen in clear 
weather fifty or sixty miles distant. You 
would think it a burial-place of kings, hav- 
ing something stately in appearance, as 
though it were a mausoleum erected by 
human art, like the pyramids built by succes- 
sive generations. We sailed away from it in 
the latter part of an afternoon, reflecting 
that we had looked upon the last object con- 
nected with the continents of the other hemi- 
sphere. 



Napoleon's " Longwood" 285 

ST. HELENA. 

We came very near this deeply interesting 
spot which for several years held the atten- 
tion of the world. We could appreciate the 
saying of the notable prisoner there, who 
spoke of himself as " chained to this rock ; " 
for the island impresses you as a huge rock. 
Very few isolated places seem to have more 
connection with the world ; for twenty-five 
vessels on an average each day pass by it, 
showing their signals, to be reported. To 
begin and speak of the place, and the 
thoughts and feelings which it suggested, 
would not be expected. We could not go 
ashore without first entering the ship and 
paying port duties ; but we had a full view 
of " Longwood," where Napoleon lived, and 
where he met death. 

We resolved to go on board a British man- 
of-war which we should pass not far off. On 
lowering the largest boat into the water, the 



286 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

seams proved to have opened, and she soon 
filled. The gig which we used all summer 
in going ashore at Hong Kong was more 
seaworthy ; so we set off in her for the man- 
of-war. We took four men to row and one 
to bail, which he had to do nimbly, the water 
gaining on him, obliging the stroke-oar to 
lend him a hand. By keeping our feet on a 
level with the rail, we managed to reach the 
" Rattlesnake " without being wet, though 
we discussed the question whether a hand- 
kerchief at half mast on an oar would be 
likely to be seen, if we were swamped. We 
went and returned safely, having received 
from the ship the news of the French and 
Prussian war, three months old, and having 
also received of a New Bedford whaler some 
vegetables, which we tried in vain to pay for. 
The midshipmen of the " Rattlesnake " said 
that they were attracted by a noble Ameri- 
ican vessel which entered the harbor that 



The North Star comes up. 287 

morning, and they asked if we could tell 
them her name. After listening to their de- 
description, we, with becoming diffidence, 
informed them that it was the Golden Fleece. 

ISLAND OF ASCENSION 

The last point on which our eyes rested 
was the Island of Ascension, always interest- 
ing to every one at school as the most soli- 
tary-looking spot in the dreary South Atlan- 
tic. A whaler tacked and came near us ; 
two of the men stood aloft watching for 
whales. Feeling that they were the last of 
our race whom we should behold for some 
time, and with sincere respect for the hardy 
men on their ocean hunting-ground, I waved 
my hat to them, and the two caps aloft made 
hearty response. 

THE NORTH STAB HE-APPEARS. 

We soon found by the signs above us that 
we were entering the northern hemisphere. 



288 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

One evening we saw, just above the horizon, 
two stars of " The Dipper." It was several 
nights before the North Star came up the 
watery hill. The poet Spenser probably had 
never sailed in these latitudes when he wrote 
of the North Star as never being below the 
horizon : — 

" By this, the Northern wagoner had set 
His sevenfold teme behind the stedfast starre 
That was in ocean waves yet never wet, 
But firme is fixt, and sendeth light from farre 
To all that on the wide deepe wandering arre."* 

But at last it came up, dripping wet, and 
inspired in us the hope of soon watching it 
from our windows at home. 

DISCOMFORTS AT SEA. 

While it is true that as much was com- 
bined as could be wished for to render this 
voyage agreeable, those who have been at 
sea will not believe that we were free from 

*The Faery Queene, B. 10, c. 2. 1. 



Discomforts of Sea Life. 289 

the ordinary discomforts or annoyances of 
sea-life. For the satisfaction of those who 
have suffered in sailing vessels it will be well 
for me to show our dark side of sea-life in 
some of its principal annoyances ; doing 
this, however, for the sake of the truth, that 
the voyage may not appear to have been out 
of the ordinary experience of those who go 
down to the sea. 

One of the first things which we all suffer 
at sea is revealed in the inspired account of 
sea-faring experience, which we are presented, 
with in the contrasted experience of being 
on shore : " Then are they glad because they 
be quiet." There are times at sea when sta- 
bility seems to be the most enviable state. 
In weariness the invalid passenger, tossed 
and not comforted, feels constrained to quote 
one of the earliest verses of inspiration : 
"Let the dryland appear." Yet there is so 
much that orovokes mirth in the midst of 



290 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

discomfort that it is not easy to say on which 
side the balance lies, whether of discomfort 
or amusement. Behold three men, two of 
them at least used to the sea, setting out 
from different parts of the main cabin to 
make their way to the table in the forward 
cabin. The ship rolls over on her port side, 
and the cabin-floor is at once an inclined 
plane at a grade very much removed from 
horizontal. They have a steep hill to as- 
cend ; and a seven-pound weight on either 
foot, ashore, would not be more cumbrous 
than that which seems now to be holding 
them to the floor. The sensation in trying to 
move cannot be unlike that which would be 
felt in an exhausted receiver. If the weight 
of the atmosphere on the human body, fif- 
teen pounds to the square inch, instead of 
being equally diffused could be concentrated 
on the feet, the sensation probably would 
not be unlike that which one feels in trying 



From the Cabin to the Table. 291 

to get across a ship's deck when she is thrown 
over to the side opposite to that whither you 
are going. So these three gentlemen stand 
immovably fixed in the middle of the floor, 
their feet discreetly wide apart to preserve 
the upright position of the body. Then the 
ship rolls over on the other side, and the 
three travellers to the dinner table go in- 
voluntarily fast to the side of the cabin and 
hold on by a door, while the ship rolls once 
more, and comes back, it may be, with miti- 
gated severity. At last a favorable opportu- 
nity is seized and the three slide into their 
seats in postures more necessary than grace- 
ful, Then begins a series of mishaps at 
table. No careful adjustment of the dishes, 
nor even the security provided for them by 
the racks can guard against the accidents 
which befall cups and saucers indiscreetly 
filled, or plates of soup not well provided 
with suitable dunnage of slices of bread un- 



292 Under the Mzzen Mast; 

derneatli the lee side. A barrel of apples 
falls against the door of a locker and empties 
itself over the floor ; and a canister of lamp- 
oil, whose cork had not been made tight, 
follows after the apples, and they are no 
longer eatable. Oh to be quiet! What 
seems more desirable than a good founda- 
tion ? 

One day when the ship was rolling heavily 
it was difficult to keep your seat on the set- 
tee, and impossible to lie reclined. Every 
thing which was not lashed to some fixture 
about the room, or to staples driven into the 
floor, was sure to adopt a nomadic state and 
go from side to side. Among other things 
a " Pilgrim's Progress," which had been left 
on a table, fell from it and went sliding to 
and fro, exciting lively sensations in me at 
the thought that Mr. Ready-to-Halt and his 
friend, Mr. Despondency, were moving at a 
pace ill suited to the crutches of the old gen- 






The Steward Lighting a Fire. 293 

tleman ; for the book went like a shuttle 
back and forth on the floor 

The little stove in the cabin felt the 
changeable wind, and did not draw well. 
This required the frequent attention of the 
steward. He was a Portuguese man, with a 
dark skin. He sat on the canvas carpet 
whittling, to make lightwood, to start the 
fire. The ship went down on one side, and 
the steward with it, whittling all the while, 
then sliding back in his upright position, 
maintained with becoming gravity, till the 
passengers, no longer able to contain them- 
selves, were made merry at the sight. This 
made him show his white teeth, silently, 
without anything so undignified as a laugh ; 
at which the passengers were increasingly 
merry. 

What shall I say of the cockroaches, red 
ants, tarantulas, and mice ? One thing can 
be said in favor of all of them, — they were 



294 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

not musquitoes. This was a nightly consola- 
tion ; but it was the only good thing which 
could be said of them all. The ants would 
cover every vessel in which they could find 
any thing to drink ; fresh water seemed to 
be their chief delight ; if a wet sponge were 
hung up to dry, on taking it down the little 
creatures would be there in legions. The 
white ant is the bane of the Indian climate ; 
their depredations, however, are chiefly on 
shore. I was going up the front stairs of a 
gentleman's dwelling in China, when his foot 
went through a stair. " Ah," said he, " the 
ants have been at work here ! " But at sea 
we found the cockroaches most destructive. 
It is not pleasant to find several of them on 
your pillow when you go into your state- 
room at night. They are harmless to the 
person, but the covers of books, and every- 
thing which has been pasted or glued, all 
lacker work, and paper generally, suffer from 



Annoyances. 295 

them. Yet there are housekeepers on shore 
who can inveigh against vermin, as well as 
people at sea. 

There are some people who cannot bear 
any noise overhead at night, If the gale 
does not wake them and keep them awake, 
twenty or thirty sailors hoisting or lowering 
the spanker, their boots making a noise not 
so gentle as that of prunello dancing-pumps 
will do it. If the stillness of the night and 
the passenger's sleep are broken by the mate 
pacing the deck to keep himself awake, the 
heels of his boots will be chiefly answerable ; 
for these make the principal disturbance ; he 
cannot always comfortably wear India rub- 
bers during his watch ; he is to be pitied if 
he has a nervous passenger, and thanked if 
he is able to forego his walks on the house 
for the invalid's sake. 

It would seem as though there should be a 
special ounishment for those who practise 



296 Under the Mizzen 3Iast ; 

fraud in ships' stores. Your appetite is deli- 
cate ; you have no source of supply but j-our 
locker ; that is furnished with bottles and 
jars which profess to hold, for instance, jel- 
lies, made and provided expressly for sea- 
faring appetites. Your hopes of a comforta- 
ble supper are vested in a jar of jelly which 
the steward has placed on table, hoping to 
provoke an appetite. On opening it, instead 
of the fruit jelly which the label assures you 
is within, you find only gelatine, flavored 
with an extract resembling the fruit. There 
is nothing on the table for which you feel 
anydesire but the promised jelly; you find 
yourself secretly invoking a sea-faring ex- 
perience like this upon the man who has so 
deceived you, till at last your suffering is so 
great under your disappointment, which 
grows intense as the tasteless supper proceeds, 
that in stern disapprobation of this annoying 
ship-chandler trick, you feel resolved to make 



Honest Ship Chandlery. 297 

it known, promising him that if you ever go 
to sea again you will pay special attention 
and see if his name is on the labels of the 
jellies. He who writes this and they who 
read it will not fair to remember that invalids 
are apt to be unreasonable. So small a mat- 
ter as a jar of preserves disappointing the 
expectation of a nervous patient, especially 
at sea, where there are no means of allevia- 
tion, may be more than a match for the 
philosophy and the resolution of the best of 
men and women. 

When I have said these things, very few 
discomforts or annoyances remain which are 
not incident to almost any situation on shore. 
Many things there we are freed from at sea ; 
the noise of cats at night, the barking of 
dogs, the scream of locomotives, the painfully 
regular puffing of stationary engines, the 
roar of wheels, the annoyances of mischiev- 
ous boys, these you escape at sea ; all of 



298 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

them in sailing-vessels, for in steamers you 
have some of them. If one should fairly 
add up the comparative discomforts of ship 
and shore, would life at sea prove to have 
the most of them ? I came to the conclusion 
that a good sailing-ship, with agreeable com- 
pany, is as near a perfect state of rest and 
peace as ever falls to our lot. 

TARRING DOWN. 

" Tarring down," already mentioned, and 
now repeated because the operation is re- 
newed as the vessel is coming near to port, 
is to -a landsman an animating sight. Every 
rope in the standing rigging, beginning aloft, 
feels the smearing process, which is carried 
on without gloves. The stays, which run 
between the masts at an angle of forty-five 
degrees, are reached at every point by the 
boys, each in what is called a boatswain's 
chair, not unlike the seat of a swing ; in 



Tarring Down, 299 

which he is lowered at his call by a boy or 
the mate on deck, who belays him at each 
descent a few feet at a time. Often have I 
watched these boys suspended sixty feet 
above the deck, wiping the rope with the 
sopping rags which they dip in the tar-bucket 
-till they reach the deck ; and I have thought 
what a sight one of these boys would be to 
his mother, — her pet besmeared with tar 
from head to foot, one suit of his clothes, 
kept for the occasion, doomed to go over- 
board after the tarring down near port, the 
boy feeling an honest pride as he illustrates 
in his work the dignity of labor. But per- 
haps the mother's heart would yearn towards 
her child more than when she should see him 
in " the boatswain's chair," on seeing him at 
his meals. I repeat it, he has no table. He 
goes to the galley with his tin pot ; the 
cook gives him his portion of tea or coffee, 
sweetened with molasses ; the boy cuts a piece 



300 Under the Mizzen Mast', 

of beef from out the mess-kid, gets a piece 
of " hard-tack" from the "bread barge," sits 
down on deck, or on a spare spar, lays his tin 
pan beside him, and with his sheath-knife 
and fingers despatches his " grub." Many 
at their rich mahogany tables loaded with 
China-ware and silver would give it all foe 
the boy's appetite and power of digestion. 

OUR THREE CREWS. 

Our three crews, were, one from New York 
to San Francisco, the second, from San Fran- 
cisco to the Sandwich Islands and Hong 
Kong, the third, from Hong Kong to Manila 
and thence to New York. 

It would be more than could be expected 
of human nature subjected to the trials of 
nautical life, to behave with perfect propriety 
under all the various conditions to which 
men must be subjected in a long voyage. 
From New York to San Francisco we were 



Improvement in Sailors. 801 

favored with a set of men who could not be 
excelled in their dispositions and behavior. 
I have already quoted the complimentary re- 
marks of the captain in his last address to 
them. In San Francisco, although there is 
not the opportunity to make a good selection 
which there is in the port of New York, we 
were also highly favored in our men. 

OLD PORTRAIT OF THE SAILOR. 

We had three libraries sent on board be- 
fore we left New York, which did excellent 
service. It was interesting to see the men 
after religious services on the Sabbath morn- 
ing, finding shady places about the ship with 
their books and tracts from these libraries. 
This is in contrast to the old system of 
things among sailors. A familiar picture of 
a sailor used to be a man with a monkey led 
by a string in one hand, a parrot cage in the 
other, a tarpaulin with a quarter of a yard 



302 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

of black ribbon flying, no suspenders, his 
trowsers revealing a zone of blue shirt above 
his waistbands. The appearance of our crew 
from New York was far in advance of such a 
portraiture. It is still seen, though the con- 
trast is very frequent. 

THE KNIGHT HEAD. 

On our way from Manila the Captain in- 
vited me to go down with him to the knight 
head, at the foot of the bowsprit, where you 
may extemporize a good seat protected with 
ropes. There you have a good view of the 
ship, and, taking the foremast for a guide, can 
learn the names of the different sails, see the 
arrangement of the jibs, and, leaning over, 
watch the cutwater dividing the billows, 
throwing up sheets of foam, the spray salut- 
ing you as often as the ship buries herself in 
a huge wave. We indulged ourselves in 
some mathematical calculations as to the 
bulk of water displaced by the ship as she 



Discipline Administered, 803 

floated, with several problems adjacent. 
This ship is two hundred and ten feet long. 
Malone Block, in Boston, where we formerly 
lived, has six dwellings, each twenty-three 
feet long, making the block a hundred and 
thirty-eight feet, so that the ship is once and 
a half the length of that block ! We did 
much ciphering on the wood work, which 
may not have escaped the paint brush, or the 
constant wear from the weather. If it sur- 
vives, a reader may find there some curious 
calculations in the mensuration of solids. 

A SAILOR PUT IN IRONS. 

The crew which we shipped in Hong Kong 
were several of them, as it proved, released 
from jail to ship ; they were, in part, the off- 
couring of English vessels. They were dis- 
posed to take advantage of the officers when 
possible, doing as little work as would serve to 
make them appear busy. One of them was 
sent aloft to slush down the mast, and the 



804 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

second mate observed that lie was loitering 
about in the rigging, to kill time. At eight 
bells he came down on deck, intending to go 
to breakfast with his watch and let somebody 
else finish his work ; but the mate ordered 
him aloft to complete his job. This he re- 
fused to do, saying he would not work when 
it was his watch below. The captain heard 
the dispute and told the man that if he did 
not obey the orders he would put him in 
irons. He continuing obstinate, they put 
irons on his hands and placed him in the 
poop deck hatch, and gave him hard bread 
and water for food. He held out forty-eight 
hours in spite of the captain's continual con- 
versation with him ; when leg irons were 
brought and were going on ; then he humbly 
consented to obey the order and to behave 
well. The captain has since told me it was 
the only time that he ever confined a sailor, 
and he was inclined afterward to wish that 



Question about the Grub. 305 

he had been still more patient, trying to 
conquer the man by his usual method of moral 
suasion. " But," said he, " it was the only 
direct refusal of duty which I ever had, and 
with such a dangerous crew I felt the neces- 
sity of showing decision." I record it with 
my grateful acknowledgment that though 
this man was kept manacled in the lazareet, 
under my stateroom, I did not know when 
he was put there, nor was I aware of his 
crime and his punishment till several months 
after our arrival. — One other incident will 
complete the criminal record of the ship. 

SOME APPEARANCE OP MUTINY QUELLED. 

On the voyage from Manila to New York 
we had the only interruption to our peace. 
One day we were informed by the steward 
that some of the men had thrown their beef 
overboard ; that they were excited ; and he 
feared trouble. The captain made inquiry 



306 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

into the cause of disaffection, the ringleaders 
in it, the nature of their threats. 

He called them together on the main deck 
in the afternoon. All were there except the 
man at the wheel. They were dressed in 
their Sunday clothes ; they stood round as 
men do when there is a strike. The passen- 
gers kept out of sight, but were within hear- 
ing. We had heard of mutinies ; perhaps 
we were now to haye some practical experi- 
ence of them 

The captain told them that the steward 
had informed him that they found fault with 
their beef. He believed that there may have 
been some reason for complaint ; that a new 
barrel had been opened that morning ; he be- 
lieved that the first pieces had been exposed 
to the air, the brine having been absorbed 
since leaving New York ; that the steward 
happened to give these pieces to them rather 
than to the cabin table, but there was no 



The Captain Settles it. 307 

design in doing so ; that had we had one of 
the pieces for dinner that day, we should no 
doubt have complained that it was not as 
fresh after coming round Cape Horn as it 
was on leaving Fulton Market ; but we 
would not for this have abused the steward. 
Now as we were getting to the last tier of 
the beef barrels he should have to shorten 
their allowance a little, especially if they 
preferred to throw their beef overboard, 
which they might do if they pleased, but 
they would gain nothing by it ; we were all 
in the same boat sharing alike. He had 
heard of some expressions being used which 
were not right ; he hoped he was misin- 
formed ; they would find that so long as they 
showed themselves to be reasonable men 
they would have no just ground of com- 
plaint. They also knew what the conse- 
quences would be to any one who should 
make trouble. 



308 Under the Mizzen Mast: 

The men separated peacefully, making no 
more complaint ; for we soon drew from 
deeper brine and the beef proved to be all 

right. 

Perhaps it was accidental, but the captain 
said that complaints against the grub had 
been most frequently made by some Irish- 
men in his different crews. Whether these 
offenders had been accustomed to the best of 
fare on shore, and so were less able to bear 
discomforts in sea life, or whether they were 
of a more jealous disposition than others 
from some natural cause in their tempera- 
ment, he w T ould not say, but he had found it 
more difficult to suit a man of this class in the 
matter of grub than others ; the shillaleh 
was too ready to appear at a fancied attempt 
to get an advantage over him in his food. 
For quick witted, daring, nimble, nautical 
feats, none have surpassed Irish sailors. As 
quick as any one of his watch, you are sure 



The Irish Accused and Defended. 309 

to nnd an Irishman lying out on the yard 
arm as far as to the weather earring, in a gale. 
It is not right to lay hold of a few cases 
and impute certain classes of faults to men 
of one nation, as though these men were all of 
them specially addicted to that kind of trans- 
gression. There is no assignable reason, for 
example, why an Irishman, rather than a 
Swede, should be quick to find fault with his 
grub ; if it has so happened that, as a cap- 
tain told us, he never in a long course of 
years, had a disturbance in his crew about 
the grub but an Irishman was sure to be at 
the bottom of it ; that even when in all other 
respects the Irishman was exemplary in his 
disposition, grub was sure to be a weak point 
with him ; still we would prefer to hear the 
experience of others before we drew a con- 
clusion unfavorable to a whole class of men in 
that particular. 



310 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

ON HAVING A FIN IN THE CREW. 

There is a singular superstition among 
some seamen that where there is a Fin in the 
crew, you may be sure of bad luck. Had we 
been superstitious, we might have augured 
ill for ourselves, because the first entry on 
our shipping list was of John Reholm, Fin- 
land. Now John Reholm was, as to behavior, 
blameless. He was short and stout, about 
forty-five years old, always ready to go aloft, 
good at mending old sails, quiet, always at 
Sabbath service, often betraying emotion, 
which was noticeable in his moistened eye, 
his quivering lip. I do not remember to 
have heard him speak a word, so that I doubt 
if he could speak English, except a few indis- 
pensable sentences, though he understood 
the spoken tongue. Yet when all hands 
were on deck in some exigency, you would 
be attracted by his readiness to lead off in 
that part of the work which called for a 



On Having a Fin in a Crew. 311 

strong arm ; lie knew where to look for the 
corner of the sail which the wind had torn 
then twisted. On receiving at the wheel 
your salutation as you passed him, though his 
hands might both be needed to keep the 
wheel straight he would be sure to lift a 
hand to his cap, and acknowledge your atten- 
tion. There was no bad luck about him. 
He went the round voyage with us. Would 
that I could hear of his welfare. If any one 
says a disparaging word about a Fin, the 
image of a saint among sailors rises to my 
thoughts in the person of John Reholm. 

ON PBAISING A CEEW. 

Now that I am out of all danger of incur- 
ring the disapprobation of the mates, I am 
free to speak thus about a sailor, and I would 
be glad to say more. One Sabbath I spoke 
to the crew in terms of commendation. We 
were lying at anchor in Hong Kong harbor. 



312 Under the Mizzen Mast 

In the night there were signs of a gale. 
One anchor only was down ; the ship drifted, 
and we were afoul of an English bark. As 
the wind was still rising and we had lately 
had a typhoon, we were apprehensive of 
another. All hands in each vessel were at 
work, some aloft, clearing the rigging and 
fending off, and those below anxiously watch- 
ing the growing snarl, contending with un- 
equal strength against the charing, and now 
and then the grinding action, of the vessel. 
From my window I could see and hear all 
that was going on, as we lay close to. The 
crews being strangers one to the other, many 
of them of different nationality, there was . 
due deference paid to each other, courteous, 
kind expressions, regrets on the one side at 
running upon a neighbor, on the other the 
deprecation or the ready acceptance of apolo- 
gies, the ' don't mention it,' or, ' we should 
have been foul of you, if the wind had been 



On Praising Men, 313 



the other way.' After working hard from 
two o'clock till four, in the dark, we were 
clear of each other, and the spare anchor 
went down to hold us fast. No words of 
impatience met my ear during the whole 
work of disentangling the snarl. It came in 
my way to speak of this the next Sabbath. 
A few days after we were discussing the 
sailors, when one of the mates said to me, 
"I was afraid last Sabbath that you were 
going too far in praising them." " Yes," 
said the other, " I was on tenter hooks, till 
you got through." I am ready to defer to 
the practical judgment of the mates, yet we 
may be too sparing of kind words, courteous 
tones, and praise, in our treatment of those 
whom we would impress with the feeling 
that they are under authority. It will not 
hurt any of us to have in mind the injunc 
tion of an old poet : 



314 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

"Praise, above all; for praise prevails; 
Heap up the measure, load the scales, 

And good to goodness add. 
The generous soul her Saviour aids, 
While peevish obloquy degrades ; 

The Lord is great and glad." 

THE POWER OF EZKDKESS. 

Early in the passage to California the men 
were at work about the ropes on deck, when 
one of them was told to loosen a topgallant 
halyard which was foul. He laid hold of 
the wrong rope. The voice of upbraiding 
came from one of the oldest of the crew ; 
" Have you been on board this ship a fort- 
night and don't you know the topgallant 
halyard ? " Another sailor answered, " O, 
Daniel is learning fast ; he'll come all right 
soon ; trust him." Daniel was evidently 
touched by this unexpected expression of 
kindness ; he wiped his eyes with the back 
of his hand ; but whether from perspiration 
or not I could not tell. 



Kind Words to one of the Boys. 815 

THE BOY BEN AT THE WHEEL. 

In the straits of Lemaire, going round 
Cape Horn, we overtook and were likely to 
pass a British ship, wire rigged, a ship of 
fine style. The sea was rough ; we were 
coming too near. The boy Ben was having 
his trick at the wheel. He was the youngest 
on board. The little fellow did his best to 
keep the ship from broaching to, but the sea 
was too strong for his young arms. I pitied 
Ben, for I knew how mortified he would be 
to have another supplant him ; and he was 
ambitious of making good his standing as a 
sailor. Just then a kind voice called to him : 
" Ben, you are a good little steersman ; you can 
steer as well as any of them most of the 
time ; but just now the sea is getting up ; we 
should like to pass that ship and not get too 
near her ; one of the able bodied sailors 
ought to be at the helm ; ring the bell and 



316 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

call Nelson to come and take the wheel." 
Nelson came, and worked the ship so that 
she soon shot ahead. Ben left the wheel 
with the proud satisfaction that his efforts 
were appreciated and praised ; that only Nel 
son could do better than he ; and Nelson was 
twenty years his senior. The little incident 
made me also sensitive about the eyes. I 
would rather do such an act of kindness to a 
young man than outstrip a British clipper. 

ACCIDENT AND PBESERVATION. 

As I look back on the dangers of our way, 
and remember how many times by night and 
day, aloft and on deck, our men have been 
exposed to accident, I cannot refrain from 
recording my gratitude to the Preserver of 
men. One day all hands were around the 
mainmast hoisting a yard. I was standing 
with the captain near the wheel, when we 
heard a noise unlike anything which we ever 



Accident and Preservation, 317 

heard on ship board. It lasted only two or 
three seconds, but was so peculiar that it 
was frightful. Was the ship grating over a 
sunken rock ; had she opened a seam, and 
was the water pouring in ? Going forward, 
the men were found standing silently over 
one of their number who was lying senseless 
on deck. One of the chain runners which 
hoists a yard twenty-five, or thirty feet, had 
given way in one of its upper links, and the 
chain had come down through the block to 
the deck. This was the noise which alarmed 
us. In falling, the chain struck one of the 
men on the shoulder and he fell senseless. 
He was soon restored, but he was laid up a 
fortnight. Had the blow been upon his 
head, the weight of the chain made it proba- 
ble that the hurt would have been more 
serious. This was the only accident which 
we had to record during the whole voyage. 



318 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

BIRD ON MIZZEN TOP GALLANT MAST. 

One afternoon about five o'clock, several 
weeks after we had " passed Anjer," a bird 
as large as a heron came and sat for half an 
hour on a yard. We were several hundred 
miles from any land. The bird was not idle, 
for his frequent change of position, the 
motions of his head evidently helping his 
eye-sight, showed that his thoughts were 
busy about the next stage in his flight. He 
will go westward, I said to myself, keeping 
up as long as possible with the sun ; but still 
he will spend the night somewhere on the 
waves. I watched him till he flew. To 
my surprise, instead of going toward the sun 
he flew eastward. I would have dissuaded 
him from such a decision, at least would 
have inquired by what train of thought he 
came to the conclusion that he would fly 
toward the night. On reflection it occurred 



A Bird's Instinct. 319 

to me that he took the most direct course 
toward the morning ; by going in that direc- 
tion he would meet the sun before we should 
see him. Perhaps instinct had taught him 
this lesson, and therefore he flew into the 
darkness as the speediest way to the morn- 
ing. He " who maketh us wiser than the 
fowls of heaven." has given then an instinct 
before which ours is as nothing. Experi- 
ence, the comparison of events, wisdom 
learned from mistakes, from sorrow, from 
loss, is ours, to guide us on our. heavenward 
path. Improving by such experience we are 
"wiser than the fowls;" otherwise their in- 
stinct makes our folly more pitiable. As the 
bird flew from me toward the east, this train 
of thought arose: 



820 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

THE BIRD ON THE MIZZEN MAST. 
THE PASSENGER.. 

Conie ! fly with, the ship to the westerly ocean ; 

See how the pathway is flooded with light ; 
The east is beclouded, the waves in commotion ; 

Darkness approaches ; why tempt you the night? 

THE BIRD. 

I fly to the day break ; I seek the sun rising ; 

I brave the short darkness, I covet the day, 
And sooner than you I shall welcome the morning ; 

Fare thee well, passenger ! bid me not stay. 

THE PASSENGER. 

See how the driftweed is wandering seaward ; 

Driven and scattered it soon will be lost ; 
From billow to billow, benighted, unfriended, 

Companionless, weary, thus you will be tost. 

THE BIRD. 

I fly o'er the driftweed past Mozambique Channel, 
And Aden, and Mocha, Bassora, Bombay; 

The Tigris, Euphrates, the Indus, the Ganges, 
So please me, I joyfully leave on my way. 

You, later o'ertaken by darkness, then midnight, 
Will slumber long after the stars shall have paled ; 

Adieu ! to thee, passenger ; eastward I travel ; 
The morning ! the morning ! I first shall have hailed. 



The Young Crew. 321 

I leave thee a blessing, with kind admonition : 
Never fear thou the sundown, and dread not the night; 

God can reveal to thee treasures of darkness ; 
Then welcome the darkness ; thrice welcome the light. 

THE BOAT'S CKEW 

There were four young men, and one who 
was an occasional substitute, who served the 
six months that we were in Hong Kong 
harbor, and at other times, in rowing us 
ashore and in our visits to ships. Sometimes 
the service took several hours ; the distance 
was now and then great. When we went 
ashore at Anjer we were rowed four miles ; 
when we went to church we were each time 
absent from the boat on shore two hours ; 
calls, shopping, business, made large drafts 
on their patience ; for though our visits 
ashore gave them also opportunity to supply 
some wants as well as to gratify their curios- 
ity, still there were unavoidable delays on 
our part which could not have been to the 



322 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

young crew always pleasant. In no instance 
did they manifest that they felt these visits 
to be irksome. In looking back upon their 
unwearied, prompt, always cheerful service, 
I feel that we owe them more than thanks ; 
but I fear to write this lest I incur the disap- 
probation of some of the officers, who would 
be moved to tell me that the young men had 
as easy a time as though they had been tar- 
ring down, mending sails, scrubbing brass ; 
that passengers must be careful how they 
praise sailors. This shall be remembered 
and duly practised on board ship; but on 
shore the names of Parslow, Twichell, Coffin, 
Ryder and Tread well, will always be associ- 
ated with happy hours. May the young 
men be successful master mariners, and while 
they are mates may they know how to 
mingle kind words with discipline. 



The Reel called for. 823 

"HOLD THE REEL." 

During the whole voyage from first to last, 
it was always exciting to hear the mate issue 
this summons. Generally, we knew by it 
that the ship was going at such a quickened 
speed that the mate wished to verify it by 
measurement. When the order was given, 
two of the boys came aft; one of them took 
from the locker the reel which had on it a 
line of several fathoms ; the other held the 
glass. The end of the line which was 
thrown into the water had on it a wide piece 
of thin wood, triangular. The line was 
fastened to it through each of the angles, 
so that the piece of clapboard stood upright 
in the water, thus feeling the draft as the 
ship went on. The reel was held by the 
boy in both hands over his head to keep the 
line from running foul. Pieces of tape were 
tied into the line twenty-two and a half feet 
apart. The glass ran fourteen seconds. 



324 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

When it was empty the boy cried 3 " up ; " 
and the mate knowing how many knots had 
passed through his hand in fourteen seconds, 
easily reckoned how many knots (or miles) 
an hour the ship was running. We never 
went over thirteen and a half; sometimes 
only two ; and in a dead calm a reel could 
not have turned; our rate of motion would 
have been 0. Perhaps in a short time a 
breeze would be setting us forward, so that 
the mate would call out, " Hold the reel." 

GALES OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 

It may have been fancvj but the gales at 
the Cape of Good Hope impressed me differ- 
ently from those at Cape Horn. The latter 
place, and the associations with it, make one 
feel that there is more of a sub base in its 
winds and waters. There, two oceans form 
and go apart to either side of a continent ; 
you are near the polar regions, the realms of 



TJie Great Capes Compared. 325 

snow and ice. You expect every manifesta- 
tion of sublimity, but not of caprice ; the 
awful forms of nature, grandeur with still- 
ness ; or, when storms are summoned, there 
is a heavy tread in their battalions. Off the 
Cape of Good Hope we had the impression 
that the wind was as fierce, its rate of mo- 
tion perhaps greater, but we could not trem- 
ble before it as we did at Cape Horn. Two 
gales ofi the Cape of Good Hope gave us 
good specimens of the violent weather in 
that region. The sun was nearly out on 
each of the two days, but the wind, though 
not as fitful as in a typhoon, was as violent 
as in a typhoon gale in the China Seas. A 
British ship as large as ours was near us the 
whole of one day, so that we saw by the 
way in which the gale was serving her, how 
we probably appeared to our neighbor. At 
one time she seemed to be moored on a 
mountain toD ; in a few moments she was 



326 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

lost to sight, but this of course was owing as 
much to our depression and elevation as to 
hers. There was so much regularity in our 
motion that it awakened no fear. My daugh- 
ters were captivated by the wildness of the 
scenery, but the roll of the ship was so great 
that it was not easy to keep upright ; so the 
captain had pillows brought on deck, and by 
passing ropes around the passengers, and 
making them fast, the pillows and they were 
secure against the lee and the weather roll, 
and for a short time they kept their lookout. 
That the scene was less terrific than corre- 
sponding tempests at Cape Horn was owing 
in part to our having more experience on 
reaching the eastern continent, but mostly, as 
it seemed to me, to the more awful grandeur 
of the Cape Horn region. 

WERE WE NEVER AFRAID AT SEA ? 

I will begin by relating an incident in the 
(seafaring experience of Dr. Lyman Beecher, 



Story of a Maid and her Mistress. 327 

who preached in my pulpit one Sabbath soon 
after returning from England, and related 
this incident, using it to enforce the text : 
" Therefore being justified by faith, we have 
peace with God, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ." He said that while a storm was 
raging, he heard a lady enter a room adjoin- 
ing his and address some one in these words : 
" Mary, how can you be sitting there in your 
rocking-chair, as though nothing was going 
to happen ? Do you know that we may all 
be at the *bottom of the sea in five minutes ? 
Stir about and do something. Pray do not 
sit there rocking and singing." 

He recognized the voice as that of an 
English lady who was on her way to Canada, 
her husband connected with the government. 
Mary was her serving maid. 

Mary said, " Please, madam, I have done 
everything which you told me to do ; is there 
anything else which you think of?" 



328 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

" No," said the lady, " but I cannot bear 
to see you so peaceful, humming your tunes 
when the ship is breaking up. 

" The men have done all they can to save 
themselves and us," said Mary, " and I see 
nothing to do but pray and wait." 

" ' Pray and wait,' " said her mistress, " on 
the point of going down ! I am raving 
distracted, and you are as calm as a clock. 
Why don't you scream, and show some feel- 
ing, and not sit there like a statue ? " 

" What good would it do to *scream ? " 
said Mary. " God can hear us whisper ; He 
is looking on the ship and on each of us, and 
He hears every petition." 

" Oh," said the lady, " I would give the 
world to feel so. But it is too late to pray. 
I cannot think ; I shall die crazy." 

Mary said, " When the storm began I was 
reading in the fifth of Romans : 4 Therefore 
being justified by faith we have peace with 



When we feared. 829 

God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' I felt 
calm ; my peace is made with God through 
Christ ; that text keeps me from screaming. 
If I die, I shall go to God, for Christ has 
made peace for me with Him." 

With such words Mary composed the agi- 
tated mind of her mistress ; when suddenly 
the sun broke through the clouds, and 
though the waves were fearfully tempestu- 
ous, the ship rode them safely ; Mary's 
Saviour had said to them, " Peace, be 
still," 

If there were hours when we might have 
been made afraid, it was not in gales, nor in 
the raging of the sea ; but in some peaceful, 
moonlight night, when everything was beau- 
tiful to the eye, we saw that we might have 
reason to tremble. If the insidious current 
should take the ship and prevent her from 
passing a certain headland, we might be 
stranded on a desolate coast and see the 



380 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

ship piled up, a helpless thing, in the sands, 
and ourselves left to the horrors of want. 
We would be passing a forlorn place in the 
China seas^ for example, and the current 
might prove more than the wind could over- 
come ; we might be swept round a point 
where we heard the surf roar on the beach, 
and it might depend on a favorable change 
of wind in a few moments whether we 
should drift into deep water and go round 
another point, or whether that spot was to 
be the graveyard of our noble vessel. At 
such moments life re-appears to you with 
its long-forgotten passages, and the future 
seems filled with pictures of woe, such, per- 
haps, as you had never seen, even in dreams. 
At times like these, you have experience of 
the special care of God, are made to feel the 
practical value of the doctrine of a particu- 
lar providence, you receive instruction in the 
nature of prayer, learn more lessons in faith 



Appi-ehension. 331 

than years of ordinary experience can fur- 
nish, and deep convictions of the privilege 
and duty of childlike confidence in the 
Almighty, such that you are persuaded a 
thousand temptations to unbelief cannot over- 
come. — them. There are paradoxes in one's 
feelings in times of imminent danger. It is 
easy at these moments, strange as it may 
seem, to forget your own possible loss and 
sorrow, and lose yourself in thinking of your 
ship, of which you may have felt so proud, 
and which, having borne you half round the 
globe, must, perhaps, now bury her stem or 
stern ignobly in the sand, all her rich panel- 
work being made of no account by the 
waves breaking ruthlessly in through the 
rent sides, the spars and sails left free to be 
the sport of the tempest, and soon her freight 
melting away in the surge. You feel that 
you would sacrifice anything short of life it- 
self, to orevent such disaster. And when 



832 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

suddenly the wind comes round the head- 
land, and you find that you have met a 
favorable breeze, and the ship goes safely 
again on her way, you wonder at yourself, 
perhaps, for rejoicing in her deliverance 
equally with your own, and you fall to re- 
peating passages of the hundred and seventh 
Psalm, with thanksgiving. 

THE RUDDER. 

The rudder affords a constant fund of in- 
terest when the ship is at her full speed. 
The parting and closing water makes inces- 
sant forms of beauty ; you may hang over 
the counter and look down into the wake 
for a long time, and not be weary. The 
swift rush of the water to close up the fur- 
row made by the keel keeps attention awake : 
the graceful sinking of the stern in alterna- 
tion with the bows, bringing you down to a 
level with the waves, then far above them, 



Fascinating Sabbath Hours. 833 

brings apprehension enough with it to make 
a novice question why he has never heard 
people who have seen it describe their pleas- 
ure. When night has set in and the phos- 
phoresence happens to be abundant, kalei- 
doscopes never revealed such wonders to the 
eye. 

RETROSPECT OP RELIGIOUS SERVICES AT SEA. 

We had religious services every Sabbath 
morning, when the weather allowed, at nine 
o'clock. Almost all hands would attend, it 
being left optional with them. On the way 
from the Sandwich Islands to China, in the 
trade-wind region, we had the service on 
deck. No preacher ever enjoyed the sight 
which met his eye in the objects around his 
pulpit more than those which were seen from 
that place of worship. Immediately around 
the speaker were twenty-five sailors, well 
dressed, wakeful, well behaved ; an awning 
was over them ; their singing was animating ; 



304 Under the Mizzen Mast, 

the beauty of the ocean scenery, the sight 
of distant vessels, the sound of the water as 
the ship went through it, contributed to the 
enjoyment of the Sabbath stillness, which 
seemed to have at sea as on land a hush un- 
like the week-days. While natural scenery 
cannot, inspire the heart with spiritual emo- 
tions, yet when these exist they are some- 
times assisted in their peaceful, elevating 
power over us by a contemplation of such a 
prospect as we had on that deck in those 
Sabbath hours. — We had in all about seventy 
men and boys who sailed with us. The most 
of these placed themselves under religious 
influences while on board ; now they are 
scattered like the driftweed which went by 
us ; but in the different vessels in which they 
now sail they may feel the power of some 
good impressions which they received ; for 
not only on the Sabbath, but in the weekly 
Bible-class, they were affectionately exhorted 



Mixture- of good Secular Boohs. 385 

by their captain, who added to his spiritual 
efforts for them kind instruction in morals, 
useful information on subjects relating to 
their calling, and to the younger portion of 
them lessons in navigation and practical sea- 
manship. In the libraries there was a good 
mixture of secular books. 

Most of the sailors showed by contrast the 
value of early education in furnishing the 
mind with religious ideas as well as the letter 
of scriptural knowledge. It is doubtful 
whether " George," at his time of life, can 
succeed in solving that great mystery " how 
an 'elephant' can go through the eye of a 
needle ; " though had he begun in youth he 
might have received instruction which would 
have at least reduced the elephant to a 
camel. Some sailors like him awaken affec- 
tion for them which it is pleasant to cherish. 
But the sea-birds are hardly more vagrant 
now than they 



886 Under the Mlzzen Mast ; 

DROPPING ANCHOR FOR THE LAST TIME. 

May 16, at 11, A. M., we took a pilot off 
New York, and at 9, P. M., dropped anchor, 
having been gone nearly nineteen months, 
and, including our excursions from Hong 
Kong, having sailed forty-two thousand miles. 
All this time no sickness, accident, loss, nor 
painful delay had occurred to us. Our only 
regret was that the voyage had come- to an end. 

In looking back upon it and recalling pleas- 
urable seasons, those which most readily re- 
cur to me, (and let not the threefold mention 
of it seem obstrusive,) are, Morning hours on 
deck alone with a Bible. I only repeat the 
experience of every one who loves the Word 
of God. The mind freed from care sees in 
the Bible at such times meanings which 
grammars and lexicons never can impart. 
Nature might reveal things most wonderful 
at such a place as Singapore ; but in a psalm 



Inspiration the Chief WorJc of God. 837 

read in the silence of the sea, there would 
often appear marvellous things in the lan- 
guage of Scripture, in its simple incidents, in 
the characters portrayed or acting themselves 
out unconsciously in their trials and joys, 
which would create an interest never excited 
by the plumage of East-India birds, or coral 
branches, or curiously twisted and beauti- 
fully enamelled shells, or by the marvellous 
light on insects and creeping things, or by 
precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, 
and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all 
thyine-wood, and cinamon, and odors, and 
ointments, and frankincense. I cannot for- 
get the impressions made upon me by reading 
connectedly all the experiences and the lan- 
guage of the prophet Jeremiah. They were 
like the strange constellations which rise to 
view in low latitudes. I have felt among the 
wonderful things of God the truth of that in- 
spired declaration, " Thou hast magnified thy 
word above all thy name." 



338 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

On reaching home, it was deeply interest- 
ing to find, at sick-beds, in stricken house" 
holds, and in circles where the goodness of 
God had filled pious hearts with thankful- 
ness, that one need not travel to be filled 
with all the fulness of God. "Neither is it 
beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, 
Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it 
to us, that we may hear it and do it ? " I 
found that some who had not left home for 
two years but had toiled in shops, and count- 
ing-rooms, and laboratories, and domestic 
life, had been increased with the increase of 
God. 

It is easier to go round the world than 
through it. But in going through it we are 
tempted to think perhaps that in solitude 
with its retirement, we can have more of 
God's presence than in the busy scenes of 
life. This led me at the close of our voyage, 
going back with restored health to busy 
scenes, to resolve that I would endeavor to 



Farewell to the Ship and Sailors. 339 

guard against the feeling that there are 
places or conditions to which God's presence 
is confined. Not in the solitudes of ocean, 
nor in rural scenes, " neither in this moun- 
tain nor yet at Jerusalem," need we be, to 
enjoy communion with God. 

m DOCK. 

We left the Golden Fleece in a very nar- 
row dock at Brooklyn, 1ST. Y. It seemed 
humiliating to the noble ship to be warped 
among sloops and schooners into her berth ; 
she appeared to be submitting to it as a 
strong man disabled and sick yields passively 
to nurses. The sailors, all who had not 
sprung ashore five minutes after the ship was 
docked, stood looking at us over the rails, 
some of them leaning on an arm, some rest- 
ing their chins on the rails, after we had 
shaken hands with them, with a long fare- 
well. 



340 Under the Mizzen Mast ; 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ON EEACHING LAND. 

It was a pleasant morning in spring when 
we set out in the cars from New York to 
Boston. Having been a hundred and sixteen 
days on the water since leaving Manila, we 
were prepared to appreciate the solid earth. 
The privilege of walking and not coming to 
the ship's rail every few minutes, was 
vividly felt. I hardly enjoyed anything in 
detail, when first on land again ; every thing 
was absorbed in the one consciousness of 
being on the solid earth. " Then are they 
glad because they be quiet," says the sacred 
penman, describing the sailors' feelings, on 
reaching shore. 

It was a windy day when we reached 
Boston. Clouds of dust filled the streets. 
It was not so at sea. It occurred to me, 
How do these people endure such discomfort ? 
It seemed to me that they must find sufficient 
comforts on land, notwithstanding the dust, 



Arrival at Home, 341 

to make existence tolerable. I soon found 
that there are things to be enjoyed on land 
as well as at sea. 

Language fails me in attempting to de- 
scribe the experience of arriving home and 
of being at home, after an absence of nine- 
teen months on ship board. We are willing, 
too willing, perhaps, to fancy resemblances 
in earthly occurrences to possible scenes of 
terror hereafter ; but let us make our joyful 
experiences foretokens of heavenly bliss. 

SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENCE OF OUR SHIP. 

It had a powerful effect upon our company 
to hear that shortly after our safe arrival, 
laden with such experience of the divine 
goodness, a singular calamity happened to 
the ship. She came round to Boston in 
charge of the first officer, the captain having 
concluded to retire from the sea. She 
loaded with ice, and sailed for Bombay. In 



342 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

a few days after leaving port, fire was dis- 
covered in her lower hold, ascribed to a 
spark from a cigar or pipe, while loading. 
She put into Halifax, where fire engines 
nearly filled her with water. After a long 
detention at Boston for repairs, she went to 
sea. We were made to feel that our safety 
through our long voyage and our happy 
arrival were not accidents ; we recalled mo- 
ments when a slight change in our affairs 
would have been followed with disaster ; it 
was sealed afresh upon our hearts that we 
were under obligation to the providential 
care of God never to be forgotten, always to 
be mentioned with humbleness of mind, with 
thanksgiving and praise. 

NELSON, OUK STEERSMAN, DROWNED. 

We were grieved to hear that Nelson, 
whom I have more than once referred to as 
an able helmsman, fell from a boat in the 



Nelson Drowned. 343 

harbor of New York a short time after we 
arrived, and was drowned. The report 
which we received of the event conveyed an 
intimation that he had been drinking too 
freely. He certainly had marks of genius, 
showing itself in the way in which he made 
the ship toss the waves from the bows. It 
was a pleasure, when he was steeriug, to go 
forward and climb into the knight heads, and 
lSan over and feel by the way in which the 
ship went through the water that Nelson was 
driving her. To be there was as pleasura- 
ble as it ever can be to any one to sit by the 
side of Mr. Bonner, with a cigar in one's 
mouth, while he is driving "Fashion." A 
great swell coming toward you, looking 
every moment as though it would overflow 
the deck, Nelson sees, draws in his nigh 
rein, runs the ship into it as though he 
would say, Why leap ye, ye high hills ? for 
now he is on the top of one of them and 



344 Under the Mizzen Mast; 

not a drop has reached the deck ; though 
they are the mighty waves of the sea he 
seems to sport with them. He fell by strong 
drink ; the great wave overtook him which 
has engulphed so many ; he died ignobly in 
smooth water, 'not in battle, hand to hand 
with a tempest. 

LUXTJBY OF SEEING A SNOW-STOEM. 

Much as I had enjoyed in different clime's 
among the Creator's works, I remember that 
when the first fall of snow came after my 
arrival, it seemed to me that I had not wit- 
nessed anything abroad so beautiful. I had 
not seen snow for two years. I was in the 
country, and I walked two hours, enjoying 
what seemed to me a most charming meteoric 
phenomenon, a snow-storm. In deference to 
custom I took an umbrella with me, and I 
felt it proper to open it, but as it hid the 
falling snow from my view, I shut it. I 



Safe Some. 345 

wondered if people were unhappy from any 
cause, who lived where they could see the 
snow crystals forming and alighting around 
them. 

Here let me abruptly close, else I shall 
more than confirm the general belief to 
which the preceding narrative may have 
given confirmation, that there is a fatal power 
in sea-faring experience to amplify one's ex- 
perience beyond due limit. I will only add 
my thanks to the benevolent reader for his 
companionship while attending to this narra- 
tion, wishing him, after a prosperous voyage 
through life, a safe arrival Q * his home on 
high. 



